“Come right in sir. We have a wide variety of gemstones available for purchase.”

“I’m looking for something of a particular… bent.”

“Ah… well follow me to the back then. Our dark magic gems are not normally displayed.”

“Perfect.”

“Might I recommend this crystal here? It has some of the highest containment features for a soul gem. With this, there’s no chance of ghosts and specters escaping!”

“What can it do exactly?”

“All the details are listed on the placard. We bought it from a vendor who labeled it a maximum-security prism…”

Excerpt from: “What’s in the Box? A Necromancer’s Story.” AC 729.

We head out, moving trenchward into the depths. As we progress, the light begins to grow dimmer, the corrupted moss seemingly subdued in its exuberance. Scant minutes pass and I see the plants have started to shift from pure red to a blackish hue. I lean down and examine the change. I wish I were surprised, but the color is just rot beginning to set in. Backing away, I continue swimming and alert the others of what I found. We continue downward, moving at an angle towards the trench. I've been trying to keep track of our relative position this entire time, and my best estimate is that we're directly under the front lines. The dim passageway begins to lighten up ahead and I sneak up to check it out.

I thought I was prepared for anything the corruption had to offer. I saw it twist a dungeon to its own purposes. I saw it send legions of monsters to attack an army. And now? Now I've seen something new, because the tunnel opens right below our feet into a gargantuan hall. It must be a hundred meters tall and wide, and it extends kilometers into the distance. Massive pillars of compressed stone keep the roof from collapsing and I can hear the faint sounds of ringing in the distance. I wave the others close, and gesture towards the sound of ringing.

They pick up the claw signal and we slowly egress the hole in the ceiling. Floating down, the sheer scale of the construction astounds me. This entire edifice flies straight in what I thought corruption could do. I finish descending and land gingerly on the floor. I was so awestruck by the scale of the pillars that I wasn't paying much attention to where I landed. It was red like the plant life above, so I thought it was simply more of the same. As I sink down a little, then bounce, my eyes are immediately drawn to the strange sensation. The sick warmth of pulsing flesh caresses my legs and I scramble to get clear of its welcoming grasp.

I manage to jump and as I hover in the water, I can see an indentation where I was previously located. The concave surface gradually evens out. Then, to my horror, a series of eyes opens along the floor. They swivel, veering crazily and I hold my breath in panic. Eventually, the eyes close and I'm able to release my held breath. I shiver, thinking how close that could have been. Luckily, I was leading from the front, so the two crab brothers managed to dodge my mistake, never touching down on the floor.

I flick a claw and we begin to head out, swimming through the colossal hall.

The perfect columned rows stand eerily in silence, and a faint putrid stench begins to waft through the water. We're continually traveling towards the sound I hear and as we get closer, I realize it's not just a ringing noise. There's also grunts and growls, snarls and the crunch of stone. I can finally make out figures in the distance and we move to take cover behind a pillar. The details are still too far away, so I direct the squad to begin leapfrogging from pillar to pillar, using each of them as cover.

Our progress slows, and its only minutes later that I'm able to get close enough to see what's happening.

Another circular hole has been torn open; dead center in the floor, with a circumference the size of one of the pillars. Estimating the size, I can tell it must be at least twenty meters across. A swarm of rotting creatures are toiling around the area, and I see my old friend the Demon Kelp Forest off to the side. Though, it seems to have had better days. It is much smaller now and with the curtailed size one might call it the Demon Kelp Grove.... or maybe the Demon Kelp Garden... perhaps the Demon Kelp Gnome Village?

Focus Crabby.

The majority of the creatures seem to be a mix of oceanic creatures with grasping limbs. Octopi, squids, crabs, and starfish to name a few. I try to do a quick head count, but the numbers trail further into the distance than is visible. There must be several thousand at least and they’re all just as big or bigger than myself. The squad is swimming in the middle of the hall, so I direct us to swim to the roof. My goal is to see if I can get a better peak at the enemies objective and all activity is focused on the excavation.

As we reach the top, there is a better viewing angle, though all that is visible is a fiery red color. A slew of rock and debris is constantly being taken out of the hole and handed off to a creature down the line. As it goes from claw to pincer to tentacle I can see the stone growing steadily smaller. I realize they're crowdsourcing the task of compressing the stone and moving it to another location. Motioning to withdraw for the moment, we set out and when I think there’s enough distance, I pose a question to the team.

"What do you guy's think they're doing?"

Luna seems just as unsure as me and tentatively says, "Maybe there's a power source of some kind down there?"

I think about that for a moment, then shake my head no. "Don't think so, why would you need to build miles of halls for something like that. It doesn't make sense.

Wilhelm and Mina stay quiet, though I can tell they are trying to figure it out as well. Finally, one of the brother's speaks up.

"I think the hall is the point."

I wave a claw for him to continue,

"Alright, so these pillars are made of compressed stone right?"

I hadn't really checked the pillars out too much but now that he mentions it… they're made of the same cubes as the trap we already ran into. Billy continues,

"So, these pillars are dry stacked, they're not mortared together."

Okay... but what does that have to do with...

"Which means they'd be easier to knock over with a sufficiently big explosion."

As he finishes speaking, several things seem to click in my mind… the angle of our descent, our current location, the tunnels leading to the surface. A sinking feeling grows deep in my core… these are all pieces of a gigantic trap. I whisper, voice afraid to speak it aloud,

"They're trying to drop the front lines into the trench."

The brother's nod. One of them takes out a piece of rock and begins drawing on it. Eventually he hands it over and I can see a simple diagram. The width of the trench where the corruption lays is several kilometers. The tunnels dug through the rock are outlined, all leading to the great hall we're in. If the hall goes, the entire front lines would collapse, and then slide at an angle into the depths of the trench. There, Incursion City forces would be easy pickings for the enemy. Mina asks,

"Okay, assuming this is true, how are they going to get a big enough explosion?"

Thinking back to the glowing hole, and the masses of stone being lifted, I reply,

"I think they're trying to trigger a core eruption. The force of the mantle shooting through here would collapse the pillars and set off the trap. Otherwise, if they just tried to take out the supports one at a time, the Army engineers would probably be able to notice and adjust. They have to do it all at once."

The corrupted monsters work tirelessly without rest or reprieve. Any time one of them falls, another takes their place. There's no telling how much time is left before they succeed. And if they pull this plan off... most of the army could be lost. I'm twitching, weighing options, trying to figure out what to do. As I stare at the busily working enemy, the Kelp Grove parts, and a familiar corrupted guardian appears. It begins waving his arms as if directing motion and the creatures seem to work start to move faster under its prompting. My old foe and the presence of a guiding intelligence decided it for me. There's not enough time to get word back, something has to be done now.

I turn to the others.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do."

"If you say attack so help me, I'm going to..." Mina interrupts before I could finish my thought.

I look at her askance. The situation is understandably stressful, and as the moment draws out, she realizes how what she said could have been taken. She retreats a bit and mutters a quiet,

“Sorry.”

Letting it go for now I start to outline my plan. We have bigger crabs to boil.

"We're not going to attack.... exactly...."

I hear a quiet moan and Luna says, "Oh no."

Bill and Billy open and close their claws in excitement and Wilhelm nods along.

"Okay, here's the plan..."