Chapter 80: Cheep!? 79

Cheep!? 

Chapter 79

Niko found he rather liked the waterways beneath the sewers. Though, the place was odd in some ways, that he could almost immediately pick out. The strangest of which was the fact that the walls and floor were far too clean. Not totally spotless, but Niko had expected to see a great deal more moss or other plant growth, but even the presence of dust was at a minimum. 

“Pretty nice down here,” Dachna commented, “Shame that we don’t have any gnomish construction companies based out of Greenleaf, the sewers would be so much better.”

Ronald grunted before passing out lanterns and unlit torches, “Before anything else, remember that a Shadow Stalker’s best ally is the dark. Like I was saying on the way here, they’re gangly creatures, sort of like goblins and fall firmly in the monster category.”

Niko nodded as Skye attached a pair of lanterns to his pack, affixing them with a few iron rods and rope clasps. Immediately he could see far better, with the added benefit of not completely ruining his night vision by shoving a lantern right in his face. Giving their prey added warning and visibility wasn’t a concern for them, since Shadow Stalkers had great senses of hearing, smell, and true darkvision. If anything, lamps made things much harder on the creatures.

“Alright, so, I’ll lead the way?” Niko asked, fairly certain that was the plan. 

Skye nodded in confirmation, “You’ve got better vision than Mithel and I, so that’s probably the best idea. Remember, monsters tend to behave very aggressively, so don’t expect to be able to communicate with them.”

Niko nodded, having already confirmed as much. Apparently it was beyond rare for a monster to be even capable of higher thought, though apparently they sometimes behaved as though they had an intelligence. There was fierce debate in the adventuring community about whether or not even high tier monsters were sapient or not. As far as Niko was concerned, he’d already been hunting beasts in the wild, and he doubted that he would necessarily stop. Eventually he was sure that he’d run into more wild and fully sapient beasts aside from Sasha, but that wasn’t a problem he needed to consider right now, nor was it an issue that he felt especially torn about. If there was a reason to go after something, he’d go after it. It was just that simple.

Before long, the group set off in the tunnels, the sound of flowing water and generous gibbering of waterfalls filling the air. In the pitch blackness, past the lamplight, Niko could just barely make out fifty meters or so, though it was far more than what his companions could see. Every time they passed an intersection, Mithel marked the location with a long weatherproof line of chalk, pointing towards their exit. Skye, too, occasionally left a much more obscure mark in the stone, apparently wary of anyone who might come through and wipe away the chalk. 

After passing their sixth intersection in relative silence, Niko paused. Amongst all of the flowing water, he could have sworn that he’d heard the sound of something cracking. Thinking better of keeping it to himself, he said, “I think I heard something like a cracking sound? Not like stone, though,” Niko finished, trying to key in on where he’d heard the sound.

Skye quietly relayed what he’d heard via hand signs before the sound came again. This time, Niko caught the noise coming more from the left side of the intersection, and began to move closer, quietly, “This way. It happened again.” 

They followed after Niko silently, who privately felt excitement building in his veins. He hadn’t gotten to hunt anything in the forest, and while this wasn’t exactly what he’d had in mind, he would happily take whatever he could get.

As they moved closer and closer, Niko began to hear other sounds from around the next corner. It was still largely obscured by the ambient noise, but he could hear a crunching, sucking sound that he could only attribute to a creature. Probably one eating something in what Niko felt was the most disgusting way possible.

The others heard it shortly after he did, and Niko wondered if Skye was getting a better picture of things than he was. Her hearing was better than his.

“I hear maybe one creature that’s probably eating. How many are you getting?” Niko asked Skye through their mind-bridge.

After a few seconds of concentration, Skye replied mentally, “Three at least, though I think there’s a fourth and a fifth nearby. I hear their claws scrabbling against the stone. They’re probably Shadow Stalkers, but be careful.” 

Niko was briefly amazed at her hearing, but quickly nodded and prepared himself to move. Judging from what she’d said, he would probably need to go in and strike hard and fast. “I’m going for Shock and Awe, is that fine?” 

Skye briefly sent hand signs to the others, and Ronald hefted his glaive and fell in line behind Niko. Skye nodded to Niko, pulling out her bow and knocking an arrow with Mithel and Dachna both preparing their own ranged options. Dachna carried darts and daggers, for his ranged options, with the former currently in his hands. They were fairly weighty, and Mithel had put a numbing poison on the tips, along with a thin wax seal to ensure that the chemical stayed at least mostly unreactive to the air. 

Niko started forward once more, slowly at first, before beginning to pick up speed. The light of the lanterns on his back danced across the tunnels, but the fixtures were held still by the brackets attached to his vest. Without slowing, Niko hit the sharp curve in the tunnel, digging in his talons against the stone and catching on the cracks between the ornate brickwork. All the while, his leg patterns were churning with essence, obfuscating the sounds he made and giving him greater power.

The moment he cleared the corner, he was already launching himself forwards. On the causeway ahead, he could see three hunched figures over something, the pale white of bone and bloody red flesh just barely visible for a human in the low light. For Niko, though, he could make out the scene much more clearly. Whatever the corpse was, he didn’t recognize it as a humanoid he’d met before, but it did look humanoid. 

The Shadow Stalkers, startled, whirled to look at the intruding bird, blinded by the sudden light in the tunnel. Niko saw creatures with pale gray flesh whose large black eyes drew his attention first. Long, broad ears swiveled with splotchy fur towards him, as though trying to hear his approach and failing at such. Hunched over as they were, they appeared something like what Niko imagined a goblin might be, if they were cross bred with a bat. Their short snouts, red with blood from their meals, protruded with stout but sharp teeth. Lean but long arms and digitigrade legs extended from a thin and wiry torso, and Niko noted that they had three long prehensile fingers and toes, each tipped with a short curved claw. They had something that passed for a tail, albeit it was more like a rat's tail than anything. Along their skin, he could see patches of rough fur; Niko wondered if they were perhaps diseased or if they just looked ill as a default.

In short, Niko did not like how they looked, and with a burst of speed, slammed the nearest one into the floor with a surge of power that shattered its ribcage with impunity. The creatures were only high tier one, and Niko could have crushed one of them completely, even before his adulthood. He felt the pulse of essence released from the creature, and he instinctively reached out to it, pulling in more of it than he would normally absorb. Having witnessed the hornets do so, Niko felt that he could improve on this facet vastly, but for now, even a slight increase was worth it.

He also felt the essence focus itself in the body at his feet, settling into its venomous fangs and slightly into its organs. 

Niko listened, sensing that the Shadow Stalkers were already moving to attack him based on their claws scrabbling against the floor furiously. He spun quickly, belting out a loud, low bellow with essence pouring into his voice all the while. The closer pair staggered, and Niko noted that on another causeway past a nearby bridge, another two couldn’t help but wince at the loud and painful sound.

‘Hmm… Yeah, that’s really quite effective already.’ Niko allowed himself to consider his tactics, just before a flare of essence filled the air.

A shimmering blade of power cut through the air, slashing at the two Shadow Stalkers on the bridge. Hindered as they were, they had no chance to avoid the attack that cleaved through both of their necks in one fell swoop before the blade-construct vanished into thin air. 

Just as Niko began to prepare himself to receive the remaining two Shadow Stalkers, an arrow and dart respectively pierced through their targets. The arrow pierced through the first’s temple, instantly dropping them, while the dart hit the neck of the other. The second did not immediately fall, instead flailing at the wound uselessly. In less than a second, though, it registered the danger to its life, but unlike a beast, it didn’t attempt to escape, nor to try to get past Niko. Instead, it threw itself forward, committing itself fully to attacking the Phorus.

Niko had of course heard that monsters had no regard for their lives, but even having been told that, the sheer manic bloodthirst the creature held in its eyes nearly kept him from responding in time. 

Only nearly, though.

With superior reach, Niko kicked the creature into the nearest wall, cracking its ribs with an essence fueled strike. He pulled the strike just enough to hopefully not ruin the organs they needed, but he had no intention of taking them lightly. Their claws were tipped with a nasty venom that could cause paralysis, shakes, fever, and induce vomiting. He had no desire to experience that.

And, as soon as the battle had begun, it had ended. Niko stood amidst the carnage, briefly considering the first target he’d hit. That one was probably not going to have many harvestable organs, but they had four others, at least.

“Good work, Niko.” Ronald spoke as he approached, briefly surveying the scene to make sure that their quarry all had obviously fatal injuries. The last thing they needed was to have to use an antivenom due to carelessness. “I think Shock and Awe might be your bread and butter tactic.”

“I am pretty awesome.” Niko grinned widely.

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Skye translated, and the party chuckled or snorted in amusement. “Niko and I can keep an ear and eye out for any intruders.”

Ronald nodded, before gesturing to Dachna and Mithel, “You guys mind dismantling these?”

The two looked to one another and nodded, with Mithel adding, “Sure, just help getting the sacks?”

Niko stepped aside and let them gather the corpses and passively watched them dismantle the Shadow Stalkers. He counted himself fortunate that he wasn’t squeamish at all any longer about this kind of thing, but then, he supposed that having to stuff his head into a corpse to eat it was a sight worse than what they were doing to the bodies. Mithel pulled out several larger jars, many with a small amount of fluid in them, no doubt to help preserve the tissues for a long period of time. Before she began working on the bodies in earnest, she pulled out a few different concoctions, one of which she injected into the body she was working on. 

The blood of the creature began to flow much more freely and quickly out of the corpse, essence actively moving through with the chemical she’d injected, pushing out the blood. Most parties would probably just harvest the materials normally, but Mithel's method would guarantee a better amount of usable bounty.

However, Niko noted that the bodies further away from him didn’t feel like they had as much essence still in them. ‘Hmm… that’s odd. Is that coincidental?’ Niko pondered wonderingly. It had occurred to him long ago that the prey he’d killed contained a great deal of essence still in their bodies, but other kills he’d stumbled upon, as rare as they were, did not. He’d assumed that it was somehow consumed, but now he wasn’t sure if that was the case, or if it was some kind of passive effect that he had from one of his Chosen gifts.

‘Does that mean all of our loot will be better than other people’s?’ Niko greedily imagined how much better their materials might be over regular fare. He kept his attention on Mithel as she continued to harvest, but unfortunately when she got to the Shadow Stalker with the highest essence, she only clicked her tongue in disappointment.

“There’s a lot of essence still in these organs, but it’s just such a shame they’re so damaged. There’s some usable stuff here but… Niko, maybe hold back a little on the next ones? Oh! But the liver seems fine?” She frowned, and then removed the organ before jarring it, along with several others. She nodded to herself, before moving on. Niko was busy cringing at the idea of how much lost money that might be, before shoving the idea aside.

Instead, he considered an issue that he’d had on his mind for quite some time at that point. Niko made sure to at least pay attention to any odd sounds as he mentally prodded his essence patterns, feeling them out as he went. Unlike before he’d become an adult and thereby tier two, he could feel a sort of flexibility and energy in his pseudo-real channels. If he wasn’t mistaken, he could probably support another essence pattern. But the question was, what one?

‘I don’t need speed, and I have a very powerful direct attack pattern. I think I’m covered for utility with my eyesight and stealth abilities, too. Should I aim for some way to fly?’ He momentarily considered that before regretfully shaking his head, ‘No, I don’t think that I can make that happen. Maybe? But I don’t really need to fly right now. I might be able to evolve into something that can fly later, anyways, so it’d be a waste. Let's see… Mental resistance? But will that be a common thing?’

Niko contemplated that point, before internally putting it on a list, ‘Important, but maybe not imminently so. My biggest role is combat, but I’m pretty sure getting even more physical strength isn’t necessary. What I’m missing is a ranged option and an area of effect option,’ Niko nodded to himself, trying to consider the situations he regularly found himself in, and would find himself in in the future. ‘Something flexible, then. I could weaponize my feathers? Maybe be able to attack with them at a distance?’ The idea had potential, but he wasn’t certain if he was keen on shedding his gorgeous feathers for any reason. ‘Maybe if I could guarantee that I could regrow them quickly… but not for now. Should I aim for something elemental?’ 

As a test, he delicately nudged the idea of a formation built around air, and he felt his essence channels respond readily enough. He went through the other elements as he considered them, judging how receptive his body would be to any given change by how his channels reacted. 

The results were mixed, being most favorable to earth, wind, fire, and water in that order, whereas any of the more specific things he could think of were harder to get. Magnetism was one that he was interested in, but while he felt the channels ready to move at his will with the concept, he had no idea how he wanted to use that. It was a fun thought, though, and he did know that everything was magnetic after a certain point. Whether he could possibly hit that point of energy, he had no idea, but it was an idea.

But, that got him thinking about other prospects.

Honestly, he’d been doing it already, and if his hunch was right…

‘Yup, that reacts really pecking strongly,’ Niko considered his idea, before deciding that he could potentially reap significant benefits from it. 

“We’re done, I think. The rest of this is just stuff we can’t use, and these do not taste good, according to the Monster Manual in the library.” Mithel stood up, pouring a generous helping of a clear wash over both her and Dachna’s hands, letting them easily clean off the blood, fats, and other filth that would otherwise have been clinging to them.

Niko nodded, trying to commit to memory what he was planning on doing when they returned topside. He certainly wasn’t going to try to make the pattern down here, that simply would have been irresponsible. 

“Ten more of these, and a check on the slime population, and we should be good to go.” Ronald declared, “Really good start, actually. We might have an issue if the other groups are just as big though.”

“Because we’d have to report that to the Quartermaster?” Skye asked.

With a nod, Ronald affirmed, “It’d mean that the predicted numbers are off. We should only be seeing groups of three at the most. They’re usually solitary. Might be the meal that drew them together though.”

“Speaking of, what is that?” Niko spoke up, directing his attention at a particularly savaged body on the stone, “It almost looks like another Shadow Stalker.” 

“It’s not?” Mithel paused, then looked more closely at the nearly devoured corpse before clicking her tongue, “Damn, I think you’re right. And I just cleaned myself off…”

Niko chirped half-apologetically, half sympathetically as she made her way to the corpse. For several seconds, she only looked at it, before humming thoughtfully to herself and frowning. She pulled out her knife, shifting what was left of the head of the creature to the side, albeit carefully since half of it was caved in. “Huh… Skye, can you take a look at this thing's head? What does this look like to you?” 

Skye came over, briefly looking it over and shrugging, “Like a Shadow Stalker.”

Mithel shot her a flat look, before Skye sighed and actually kneeled down on her heels next to her to take a better look. She was disinterested for all of three seconds before she spotted something, “Well, it doesn’t have fangs, and it’s, like, got a flatter head… what’s left of it, anyways.”

“What do you think it is?” Mithel prodded the thing, “I have my own idea, but I want to check yours.”

“My bet is a Dawr Goblin, but if that’s the case he’s a long, long way from home.” Skye shrugged, “The mountains aren’t a short journey away.”

Mithel cleaned off her blade while nodding, “That’s what I think, too.”

“Maybe he got lost? Or there’s a way in here from the underground.” Dachna cheerily added, “For my part, I’m voting for just getting lost, because a new underground route would suck.” 

“Well, I guess we’ll keep an eye out for them, too.” Ronald shrugged, “They’re weaker than Shadow Stalkers generally, but they have big tribes. I’m pretty sure we won’t see more, though, they generally don’t stray like that.”

Niko listened and practically felt his talons itch with the sheer coincidence of them coming down here only to find something that wasn’t supposed to be there. While the others didn’t say it, he could almost feel them thinking the same thing.

Still, they rose and resumed their exploration of the waterways, now keeping an eye out for any holes in the walls, or locations where the water was lower than it ought to be. Anything that indicated a gap, since they’d at least have to find where that was for their report. Niko realized that that meant they’d probably be down there for far longer than they’d wanted. Perhaps a second day even, if they had to camp overnight.

 

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