Jerimiah was approaching the final ship. He’d been burning the last vestiges of his stamina bar but managed to catch their attention. After they hauled him up onto the deck, he collapsed into a heap holding the final sealed missive out in front of him. The first mate of the ship took the cylinder from him and nodded before moving toward the captains quarters.

“So Captain Figaro let his little pet loose on the waves again?” called a sailor tying a knot in one of many ropes along the railing.

Jerimiah ignored him and focused on resting. From his position on the deck he could hear an argument happening in the captain’s quarters. The first mate stormed out and started barking orders to the crew. Jerimiah knew from all his years on the seas that these orders would take this ship in the opposite direction of the port at Shattered Sky. The Captain of this vessel stepped out onto the deck with a crumpled piece of paper in one hand and a spy glass in the other. He was much taller than Captain Figaro, but his hat was exactly the same size. His beard was neatly trimmed, and he wore an eye patch over his left eye. The scowl on his face was the biggest indication that he did not like what he was told.

“Madness! If Figaro thinks I’m joining in on this suicide mission he’s even dumber than he looks. Unbuttoned shirt and all. Is that his messenger? He can’t leave, he’s heard the orders. Kill him!” Captain Estes barked, and several crewmen turned on Jerimiah in an instant.

Jerimiah did his best to climb up and over the railing but too many sets of hands grabbed him to haul him back. The skies were growing darker, and it began to rain. Thunder could be heard from the clouds rolling in and new orders were called out to batten down the hatches. Three crewmen immediately let go of Jerimiah while the two left over pulled their blades. A bolt of white hot lighting hit the sailor’s sword on Jeremiah’s immediate left blasting him out of his shoes. The one on his right dropped the knife he just pulled out in fear of another strike. That was all the distraction Jerimiah needed. He kicked the remaining man in the family jewels and dove out into the water.

“Let him go. He’s headed into a squall. His sea elf tricks won’t help him deal with hundred foot waves. If he doesn’t pass out from exhaustion the beasts will eat him. Just tell the captain you ran him through and tossed the body to the brine,” said an unfamiliar sailor with dark skin.

As the water began to churn in the Sea of Solace, the sailor picked up his knife and nodded to his compatriot before walking away. Once he was out of sight, the dark skinned sailor splashed to the deck in a puddle of sea water streaming between the slats holding up the railing and rejoining the ocean below.

Everyone created a wide circle around Deacon and the glowing light. They could all see it now thanks to Deacon’s exertion of his aura. Even Tantus could be seen running back into the camp before being stopped by Sophie. Hani hoped off one of the wagons and made his way over to Deacon.

“Hey there bud, do you know what’s happening with your little wisp friend? Everyone is kind of waiting for you to say something,” the jester whispered as to not frighten the bobbing light.

“Their name is Ignis. Said something about needing help. I need an aspirin,” Deacon replied rubbing his ears.

“What is an aspirin?” Hani asked.

“Earth stuff, not now. What kind of help do you need Ignis and please don’t shout?” Deacon said turning his head toward the light.

“Faerie folk have been beset by a rampant dungeon. We need someone to go in and kill the boss. It’s creatures are over running our land,” Ignis said at an appropriate volume.

There was a collective sigh of relief from everyone in the camp as the conversation was being held at a normal volume. Some people began to break off and go back to what they were doing.

“We are on an urgent mission right now. Is this truly critical? Can we come back and help later?” Deacon asked not knowing what a rampant dungeon was, and assuming the boss was kind of like the corpungie queen they fought south of Iron Mountain Plateau.

“Rampant you say that’s quite serious. What kind of monsters are spawning?” Hani asked with interest.

“Just like those,” Ignis said as it flew off of Deacon’s shoulder and straight through a crack in the wood of one of the wagons.

A chittering sound could be heard around the camp like cicadas singing. The horses all began to shuffle uncomfortably and whinny. Deacon peered out into the darkness of the night with the campfire to his back. He strained his Soul Sight to its limits but couldn’t see anything. That was when Tantus leaped out in front of Deacon and activated his bangle. Bright light bloomed from his wrist washing over the southern end of the camp. Within the light were eight legged monstrosities. Their carapace was covered in black crystals and the little claws on either side of their heads shielded their six eyes from the light. The mouths on these creatures were diamond shaped with three rows serrated teeth. They stood about knee height to Deacon and had bulbous rear ends with extending and retracting spinnerets.

The closest one was pinned to the ground by mystical sword launched from one of Sophies tattoos. That seemed to open the flood gates as the Deep Dwellers pulled weapons and charged the blinded creatures. Deacon noticed the chittering sound changed and spiderlike creatures all fanned out. It was bizarre. They didn’t just turn to random opponents and engage. It was coordinated and without any wasted movement. Deacon heard someone yelling at him about something and it rocked him out of his thoughts.

“Black Weavers!” cried one of the Deep Dwellers.

“Party up! Now!” Typhus screamed tossing a dagger that bounced off the crystals on one of their backs.

Deacon felt foolish. He’d once again been mired in his own thoughts at the worst possible time. He threw out party invites to all those fighting in the camp. That seemed to bolster their fighting spirit as they received Deacon’s gift of regeneration provided by his Triage perk. He then took a moment to use Inspect on the monsters.

Black Weaver Spider- Found in the darkest of the Deep Caverns, these spiders are known to trap and eat not only hapless victims, but the larger ones can even consume ambient light. Level 15/Mystical Creature.

“They get fuckin bigger?” Deacon said aloud as Tantus hopped up onto the roof of a nearby carriage to bathe the area in the light of Astrael.

“You have no idea. Every time we found a nest of these things in the Deep Caverns, we burnt it to ash. We need to find where these are coming from,” Typhus replied as he fell back from a downed monster.

Amanda was complaining about something as she stabbed them one after another. Ralph used his abilities to great effect. As Tantus blinded them he would send out a hallowed blade to cut their legs off in a line. Rendering those in its path unable to retreat or fight. Hani was flinging his hat around like he was in a color guard. The blades from his hat slashing through the creatures with each swing.

Deacon didn’t want to miss out on all the fun, so he tried to jump on top of one and smash it like Mario does mushrooms. To his shock, the crystals on its back pieced up into his calf causing a drop of ten percent of his health. Now he knew why the plumber never jumped on a spiked shell. Time for another tactic all together.

“They are immune to my poison,” Amanda said as she fell back.

“Time for a stupid idea! Amanda, I’m not immune to your poison. The darkness grows,” Deacon finished off his comment by saying his trigger phrase for The Black. Amanda just nodded and rushed over to him. She began to excrete a grey dripping substance from her right palm as Deacon’s eyes shown green pupils on an all-black background.

“Wait so which poison is that?” Deacon asked as Amanda slapped him in the face.

Deacon triggered Toxic Waste converting the itching toxin into the disintegrating power of this plane. Amanda kept smacking him in the face and Deacon kept firing balls of darkness that hollowed out whatever spider it touched. One of the spiders was webbing the feet of a Deep Dweller before Deacon launched a ball at it taking off its rear at the thorax. It stumbled around as ichor fountained from its back end before lying still on the ground.

The whole battle lasted five minutes. Almost an eternity when your life is on the line. Even after the last one fell Amanda got one more poison less smack in earning her a scowl from Deacon. She on the other hand, was wearing an ear to ear grin.

“If the dungeon is making these, I suggest we clear it out. Mortal Plane dungeons rarely have a difficulty greater than average. The one exception being the dungeon you left outside of the plateau. You’re all level twenty, right? Take your team and clear it out. South is not our intended direction so we should split up. Meet up with us after you are done. Okay?” Typhus suggested as the rest of warriors struck killing blows on anything still twitching.

“I was hoping to avoid the big ass spider cliché but here we are, I guess,” Deacon said to himself as Ignis darted out from one of the wagons toward him. Deacon knew what was coming next.

“That was amazing! Will you save us?” asked Ignis.

New Quest: Rally Round the Family- Ignis the Will-o-Wisp has asked for your help in dealing with a Rampant Dungeon that is ejecting monsters into the real world. Discover the source of the change and return the dungeon to normal function. Reward: Reputation increased with the Fae, Title upgrade, Unknown.