Quarry

Quadarch 30 973 P.C.

Today is the day when our group known as ‘The Chromatic Cardinals’ set out to clear Ryciden’s mines of the undead that lurk there. I was the first to wake up, after I got myself ready for the day I went downstairs and looked to see who was there. At the front of the inn we were staying at was Mayor Grady along with I believe her name was Luca, the captain of the guards of this village. I went up to them to greet them good morning when they asked me.

“Where’s the rest of your crew?”

“Probably still sleeping, should I get them?” I replied

“No, let them sleep for a bit longer. It's still around 5pm. We have a few hours until you guys are set to handle our undead problem in the mine.” Luca said.“I would advise stalking up on whatever you need though kid, also make sure to tell my Ma what you’re gonna be eating for breakfast.”

“Your Ma?” I asked Captain Luca

“Yeah, my Ma is Lucy, the woman who owns this place.” she said pointing to the inn .

“Okay, will do. Thank you again for giving us a chance and being so generous.” I expressed.

“Don’t think anything of it we want this problem dealt with and all you kids wanted was some place to sleep and eat. That reminds me, your horses are being taken care of and fed currently, so don’t worry about that.” Mayor Grady told me.

I went back inside and told Lucy that the rest of my group would be getting up in about an hour and to please prepare us food, she acknowledged it and said, “Sure thing darling, I’ll prepare y’all some breakfast”. I then went supply shopping in town, getting some more meat, fruits, veggies, spices, etc. and picked up a bag of spell components for Seethe just in case they run out in the mine. I also picked up a list of weird plants Monsoon wanted for what I assume are dangerous experiments. The entire supply run cost about 30 gold pieces, which I later asked the group to help split the cost.

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“What I don’t understand is why airhead the rest of your siblings don’t have to pitch in boulder brains.” Liz contested when I told her about the supply run.

“Because! I keep all the money for us, because I have the most experience using money. Plus I’m only asking for money for the supplies! Do you know how much Seethe and Monsoon’s spell components cost?!” I said back to her.

“Fine here’s a fucking gold piece, you better cook so damn good food for that.” Liz begrudgingly handed over a single gold piece.

“Here Quarry, Corrin and I’s part of the payment.” Kellen handed me two gold pieces, then NoName just silently slipped a gold piece into the pile then walked to the door.

“Hello Mayor Grady and Captain Luca, our group is now ready to depart towards the mines.” NoName said to the two waiting at the door for us.

“Great. Now I have to get to work, but Luca and her troop will see you off to the mines and guard the entrance for you all to make sure you don’t chicken out or the monsters don’t get loose from being agitated.” Mayor Grady stated.

“Come on now kiddies, the faster we leave the faster we get there and the faster we can thank you for a job well done.” Captain Luca called to us, ushering us to follow her. We started to follow her and the rest of her crew of guards towards the mine. We started to walk through the village towards the mine in this small armed troop. We got to the mine which was 10 minutes away on the other side of the village. When we arrived Captain Luca gave us a proper rundown of the situation inside the mines.“Here we are kids, now be careful, those undead beasts usually make their home in the central chamber of the mine. The path to that chamber is straightforward from here, the entrance. We’ll guard the entrance out here so be careful there, and good luck.”

After being wished luck we entered the mine, we decided that going in a formation would be best going forward. Liz and I were at the front, behind was Kellen and Corrin, behind them was Seethe and Monsoon, and then finally covering our rear was Gale and NoName. We slowly walked through the mine before getting to the central chamber, where the undead were supposed to be. But they weren’t, we looked in any hole or space you could theoretically hide in but they weren’t there.

“I thought Captain Luca said the undead was supposed to be in here?” Monsoon said.

“I think they probably moved down further into the mine to escape the storm. It was really rough after all, I like storms more than most people and even I was unsettled by that beast.” Gale suggested.

“Do any of us know how to track?” Kellen asked.

“I can, just give me a second to find something to track.” Liz replied while looking for a piece of the undead to track. All of us then decided to pitch in looking for something to use for Liz to track. Monsoon then found a piece of decaying flesh next to a minecart and picked it up with tongs handing it over to Liz.

“Here you go Liz, hopefully this’ll work for you to track.” Monsoon said as she handed over the decaying piece of flesh to Liz, gagging at the smell of the thing. “Gods this thing smells worse than some of the shit I make.” Monsoon then pulled up her mask that she uses when she mixes chemicals, and her goggles too.

“Yeah this is definitely rank and nasty enough for me to track. Ughhh, I’m going to regret this.” Liz said before reluctantly bringing the flesh to her nose and making a “bleugh!” sound. “Oh yeah I can definitely smell this, give me a second.” Liz took a few seconds to recover before starting to track the undead. She started to sniff the air and each of the tunnels and the moment she recognized the scent she shouted. “AHHHH FUCKS SAKE, BY BAHAMUT’S GRACE IT SMELLS SO FUCKING BAD DOWN THIS ONE! They are definitely through here.” She said pointing towards a tunnel and covering her nose. “Yo, Monsoon got anything that smells good in your batch of potions or whatever, I need to clear this scent from my nose before I pass out.”

Monsoon looked through her bag before handing Liz a small bottle of clear liquid with some flowers and other plants in it. “Here you go Liz, hopefully this will clear it up, this stuff should smells like a field of flowers”

Liz snatched it and said “Thanks!” then took a big whiff before saying. “Now this is a smell I want lingering in my nose, okay I’m ready, let’s go this way, lead the charge boulder brains, I’ll tell you where to go.”

“Got it, everyone let’s go.” I announced before I started to follow Liz’s directions. We started to go through winding paths, through multiple chambers and long tunnels; occasionally Liz would take a whiff of the perfume Monsoon gave her before continuing. We started to get deeper and deeper into the mine, eventually getting so deep only those with darkvision could see, and by those with darkvision I mean only Seethe could see. Seethe fixed this by casting ‘Dancing Lights’ so he could light the path in front of us, making it so everyone besides him could finally see. We just kept going and going and going, until we eventually hit a dead end. Ahead of us was a seemingly empty chamber with no other tunnels connecting to it besides the one we were in. I asked Liz, “There’s a dead end in front of us, are the undead here?”

“Yeah they should be.” Liz said curiously, before looking around and scanning the room from a distance.

“Okay everybody be on guard if they’re here, we need to prepare ourselves.” I advised everyone, making sure they were ready for the fight to come.

Gale started to cast ‘Enlarge’ on me in preparation. Seethe casted ‘Armor of Agathys’ on themselves, causing the icy armor to hiss as it came in contact with his naturally hot skin. Monsoon drank a potion and casted ‘False Life’ on herself, gaining a necromantic echo of herself over herself. Corrin put himself up ready to dodge any incoming attack. Kellen held up her shield, mimicking Corrin a little bit. Then NoName came up to me and said, “You are the one who has led the charge so far, therefore I shall give you this.” and casted ‘Heroism’.

With this our preparations were ready as Liz and I motioned everyone to back up before she let out a bloodcurdling roar. She announced our presence here and as she did eight monsters came from the walls and behind or inside of minecarts. Their mangled and horrifying bodies started to sway before they came into proper view. When they came into view all of us took a step back at the horrifying sight of their… decayed bodies. Their skull was the only thing they had to call a head, their limbs looked like any other undead with flesh, but their torso was the most horrific of all. Their torso, or rather the entire upper body was ripped open, like someone’s body was turned into a flesh jacket. You could see inside their body, their skeleton poking out leading up to their skull, all open for anyone to see. Before they had time to attack Seethe launched a preemptive strike by casting ‘Chaos Bolt ’ on one of them starting a small chain reaction of force energy which hit two of the…“Decayed” as we later called them.