Lost in the Abyss – Episode 1.6
Shaaaarghraio scowls. He is still smarting from the proximity of the orbs of force that Tanemous has been hurling. However the spell caster seems unaware of any affront he might have caused. Eventually the Minotaur turns away.
Kicking in a set of doors that appear to lead deeper within the Miner’s stronghold Shaaaarghraio says to no one in particular, “So where’d you reckon he went then?”
A long corridor stretches away into the darkness.
“I’d say it was this way, wouldn’t you?” he mutters to himself before stomping off. He does not wait for the others.
Almost immediately he spots a pair of glowing red eyes that leer at him out of the darkness. Two large, tusked humanoids come forwards, gibbering and brandishing their scimitars. Shaaaarghraio bellows and charges.
He falls upon the Demons in a rage, decapitating one of the two almost immediately. Still gibbering, its head bounces and rolls away.
Blanca, Marcus and Tanemous hurry to join their impetuous comrade. Marcus is first on the scene. The young swordsman finishes the second Demon with an expert thrust of his blade. Once again his sword seems to pulse briefly as the creature’s life fades.
Then, without warning, the body of the first Demon explodes. It is rapidly followed by the second. Waves of force buffet the four companions, bludgeoning them against the walls and hurling them to the ground. Marcus and Tanemous are largely unhurt, protected as they are by their magic but Shaaaarghraio and Blanca take the full brunt of the blast.
Shaaaarghraio roars and stomps around snarling and cursing. Blanca tries to calm him down long enough to heal him, and herself. However, almost immediately, there is more movement in the darkness.
Despite her best efforts Blanca is unable to prevent Shaaaarghraio from charging off again.
Two more of the exploding Demons appear and the Minotaur assaults them with even greater ferocity than before.
Blanca moves to support him and is able to intercede when a leathery skinned, cadaverous looking Demon, a Babau, materialises from the shadows. She steps into the vile creature’s path and blocks its slashing claws with her halberd, taking care to avoid the corrosive red jelly-like secretion that oozes from its pores.
At that moment Shaaaarghraio fells one of the two Demons he has been fighting and runs off into the darkness bellowing “IT’S GONNA EXPLODE!!!”
Blanca rapidly retreats, cleverly slipping past the Babau’s attack and moving so that it is between her and the imminent blast. Seeing it has been out-manoeuvred the Babau disappears.
Seconds later the remaining Demon drops its scimitar and covers its ears. The body lying next to it swells up and explodes.
BOOM!!
Meanwhile Tanemous is securing the rear. Having spotted a door standing ajar, he checks to see what is there. Moments earlier he could have sworn that it was closed.
At first the room appears to be empty, except for some old foundry equipment, but then another Babau leaps out of hiding and comes at him with its claws. Tanemous immediately surrounds himself with a ring of magical blades and the Babau retreats back into the darkness.
When the reverberating echoes of the explosion subside, Blanca calls out “Shaaaarghraio come back!” but there is no reply. Somewhere up ahead there are sounds of another disturbance. It seems pretty likely that they will find him there.
Blanca sets off in pursuit of the Minotaur once again and Marcus and Tanemous follow her.
It is not long before they find Shaaaarghraio knee deep in a crowd of Petitioners that are flooding into the passage from a side tunnel. As he swings his mighty axe, cleaving through them like wheat, the throng swarms around him, clutching at him and trying to drag him down.
Suddenly another exploding Demon appears. This one runs at them down the corridor, swelling up as it does so.
“Oh no you don’t!” Shaaaarghraio roars.
So saying he wades through the Petitioners and halts the Demon’s careering advance with one mighty swing of his Great Axe. The creature immediately explodes, blasting Shaaaarghraio and the Petitioners.
“Shaaaarghraio, what are you doing?” Blanca yells exasperatedly as the injured Minotaur jumps up and wildly rampages off into the darkness once more. The Petitioners have been obliterated.
Blanca shakes her head. “He’s going to get himself killed” she says.
“And us too if we’re not careful” Tanemous mutters.
Blanca takes a deep breath and then sets off after Shaaaarghraio once again.
The Minotaur has reached a T-Junction at the end of the corridor and has encountered two more of the exploding Demons there. With them is a squat, heavy-set demon with a whip.
Battle is in full swing.
Seeing that the wounded Shaaaarghraio is hard pressed by the trio of Demons, Tanemous hurls a fireball into the fray. It badly singes the Minotaur but has little effect on the Demons.
The struggle continues unabated.
Out of the shadows behind Shaaaarghraio two Babau materialise. Once again it is Blanca who moves to defend the Minotaur’s back and keep the Demons at bay.
Seeing that his colleagues are now surrounded and that the tide is gradually turning against them, Tanemous creates a magical wall of stone across the T-junction between Shaaaarghraio and the Demons up ahead. This leaves them with only the two Babau in the passageway to deal with.
However Shaaaarghraio seems to view this development as less than satisfactory. Apparently enraged, he starts attacking the wall.
Meanwhile, aided by Marcus and his magic, Blanca continues to fend off the Babau.
Then, without warning, Shaaaarghraio turns, grabs one of the two Demons and hurls it down the corridor into the ring of blades that still swirls in the air around Tanemous. Immediately after this both of the Babau vanish.
Then, bellowing wildly, the seemingly crazed Minotaur charges down another side passage and into a chamber that is there. Shortly afterwards sounds of destruction emanate from within.
“Is there a plan or are we just following the Minotaur?” Marcus enquires.
“I have no idea what’s wrong with him” Blanca replies.
“It seems that his repressed chaotic nature is coming increasingly to the fore” remarks Tanemous. “We may simply have to let him work whatever this is out of his system.”
Though they cannot see him, the sounds of Shaaaarghraio’s wild rampage continue for the next few minutes.
The others decide it best to give him some room.
“He seems to be acting even stranger than normal” observes Blanca “Do you think something’s actually wrong with him?”
“No” replies Tanemous, “for one such as he, I would say that he has been remarkably restrained up until now. This is most likely his true nature re-exerting itself. Chaotic individuals are wild and unreliable at best. There’s no telling what he might do next.”
When things have eventually quietened down, they hesitantly go inside. Within they find Shaaaarghraio, apparently sulking.
Blanca attempts to soothe the Minotaur and find out what is the matter with him.
After much coaxing Shaaaarghraio snorts “Why don’t you ask him?” indicating Tanemous.
Tanemous looks perplexed. “I have no idea what he’s talking about” he says.
“Oh yeah, you can deny it” Shaaaarghraio accuses “but we both know you tried to kill me with that fireball”
“That’s preposterous!” Tanemous retorts “If I’d wanted you dead you can rest assured you would be”
Shaaaarghraio snarls.
Bitterness between the two boils over into a heated argument and they nearly come to blows. Blanca attempts to calm them and eventually manages to get them to simmer down.
With bad blood thinly concealed beneath the surface they discuss what to do next. Shaaaarghraio’s rampage has led them deep into the enclave, they are injured and have used the majority of their magic, now they must choose either to press on, breach the wall and re-engage the Demons or withdraw back out into the catacombs where the dark mass of tendrils may await them.
The debate continues for some time but eventually they agree that the tentacular mass is the greater threat and therefore they must proceed onward through the Miner’s enclave.
