Chapter 71: Champion, Chapter 5: Lurking Danger

Aidan

The Realms

Firstday, 1st week of the 9th month, Age of the Chosen 1

Morning

The Labyrinth, First Stratum: Viridescent Treetops

Fifteen minutes later, the book crumbled to dust in Brighid's hands. The redhead blinked, then shook herself all over. "That was weird." Her eyes focused on a blank spot on the wall for a moment before she spoke again. "I know exactly how to make it. Not the same way I know how to make a sword or an arrowhead; I can see all the ingredients, the exact ratios they need to be mixed in, the precise steps of the process, everything."

She refocused on the party. "The good news is that they do not take long to make. On the other hand, each stratum of the Labyrinth needs its own escape token, and they require materials gathered from that stratum. For now, we should be on the lookout for Viridescent Sap and Emerald Chitin. I do not know what the materials are for the second stratum token, but I know that I will when I see them. Oh, and more bad news: tokens will not work if anyone in the party is engaged in battle."

Aidan nodded and said, "I knew there'd be a catch. So, they won't save us from a fight we're losing, but they can save us from one we see coming and don't want to risk. Also, those materials' names are clues: Viridescent Sap could be from the environment, but Emerald Chitin implies that there will be insect-like monsters to fight."

"Perhaps," Ailis replied, "but it is safest not to make assumptions. The chitin might come from those passive insects we saw outside, and the sap might come from monsters. Maybe both are from monsters, or neither. It is too early to tell, and we have too little information to make judgment calls on. For now, we should continue exploring."

No one disagreed, so they retraced their steps back to the main tree-tunnel and proceeded to the second side-corridor. This one, too, took a right turn ten feet in and ended thirty feet later. There was no treasure orb, however. Instead, a mass of vines supported a luminescent purple flower dangling from the wall. Its long petals curved in a vague S shape, exposing the pistil and stamen at its heart. A sweet fragrance wafted through the air, and the flower shimmered with drops of nectar.

"What is a flower doing inside a tree?" Ailis asked, her confusion evident in her tone. "And what is pollinating it?"

"Remember, this is a dungeon; even if it looks like something natural, it isn't. Still, everything here has to have a purpose." Aidan leaned closer to the flower. The entire thing glowed faintly in the darkness, but up close, he could see that there were veins among the petals that shone a little brighter. The nectar, too, was phosphorescent, filled with hundreds of tiny sparkling lights. He reached out to touch the liquid, then thought better of it; what if it were acidic? We've got multiple healers, and I have my potions back. Unless it kills me on contact, I should be okay. Aidan stretched out a fingertip, ready to jerk it back at the first sign of anything untoward, and touched it to a dangling droplet.

To Aidan's surprise, nothing happened. The nectar was cool and wet and closer to syrup than water, but that was all. He brought his fingertip to his nose and sniffed, reasoning that he was already in trouble if it was an airborne toxin. He couldn't make out any particular scent over the flower's fragrance. "Well, it seems safe enough to the touch. I'm not about to try eating it, but maybe we should collect some and see if anyone else can use it. The Labyrinth is supposed to be full of useful materials, after all."

They each had two spare waterskins for situations like this, so they filled one with nectar, then reversed course. Once back in the primary tunnel, they turned left and exited out onto the branch. "What's that across the way? It's too small to be another of these trees." Aidan pointed to another arboreal pathway separated from the party by a short gap. There was a vertical structure rising off the side of the branch nearest them.

"I do not know," mused Llwyd, "but it looks long enough to span the gap. Do you think we could chop it down and make a bridge out of it? Would the Labyrinth allow that?"

Brighid shuddered. "I hope not; it is bad enough as it is. I do not know that I could walk across a platform with no supports when we are this high up."

Aidan patted her on the flank, although it didn't have the same effect through her armor. "There's no need to decide now; we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

There was a pause before the rest of the party reacted. Ailis covered her mouth to hold in her laughter while Brighid smacked Aidan on the shoulder hard enough to leave a bruise through his armor. Cai and Llwyd looked at each other and shook their heads.

"We cannot save him from himself," Cai intoned.

"Is a punster even worth saving?" Llwyd replied.

Riama sent <confusion> "I do not understand. Why are the Mate and the Guardians turning against you, Master?"

Aidan rubbed his shoulder and chuckled. "I made a bad joke. It is traditional to discourage that sort of thing." Aloud he said, "Sorry, sorry. I couldn't help myself."

"Oh, do not apologize on my account," Ailis smirked at him. "I, for one, appreciate a quick mind and a clever tongue."

"Unfortunately, we're outvoted," Aidan responded. "I'll try to restrain—shit!" Aidan exclaimed as Brighid barreled into Ailis, bowling her over as a serrated, scythe-like claw whistled through the space where the silver-haired centaur had just been. He spun around to see Cai and Llwyd standing between him and a colossal praying mantis. The monster's carapace was brown and patterned like tree bark, and it was twenty feet high if it was an inch. Its alien, triangular head was tilted sideways as if in confusion. It lifted its arms and extended its claws to strike again, but Aidan acted faster. Ten embers flashed through the gloom and impacted across the giant insect's carapace with deafening explosions.

The creature reared back, then snapped its arms forward. This time, though, the whole party was ready. Llwyd ducked under one insectile appendage; Cai smashed the other aside with her shield then chopped into the extended arm with her axe. Her blow sent a few shards of chitin flying, but the mantis didn't seem to care. It retracted its claws to prepare for another strike.

Aidan began the short incantation for Magma Blast. Behind him, he heard Ailis's soprano voice starting a chant of her own. "Queen of ten million hives, I beseech thee. Thy dominion extends—" Aidan tuned her out to focus on his own magic. His salamander spat a wad of flaming goop that splattered across the mantis's thorax. At nearly the same time, Riama appeared on the insect's upper back and clamped her jaws around its neck.

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Aidan had been planning to blind the monster with superheated rock, but Riama's sudden appearance made him jerk his hand to the side right as his spell was completed. The lava sailed over the enormous mantis's right shoulder and flew off into the darkness. Aidan cursed internally but immediately started dual-casting Flame Jets. In the meantime, Brighid charged into the fray, using her greater reach to strike at the Tyrant's legs.

The battle descended into a stalemate for long moments; now that it wasn't attacking from ambush, the party could block or dodge the mantis's attacks, but its tough chitinous carapace resisted most of their attacks. Even fire didn't seem to phase the creature, despite its vulnerability to the element. Aidan was beginning to debate casting a Soulfire Blast just to increase his damage output when the tides turned.

"—O Queen, grant me but a sliver of thy power! Bind this wayward child who threatens thy servants!" Ailis finished her lengthy incantation. A brown strand of manna connected her to the Tree-top Tyrant, which froze mid-strike. "Quickly! I cannot hold it for long!" she called out to the others, but her warning was unnecessary. Brighid hacked away at the massive insect's vulnerable legs while Cai and Llwyd set to dismantling its extended arm at the elbow joint. Aidan took the opportunity to fire another Magma Blast, coating the creature's other shoulder with molten rock that began cooling into a restrictive shell.

Ailis's paralysis spell faded a moment later, but the damage was done. The Tyrant spasmed and fell onto its side, lashing out in futile aggression with its remaining limbs. With one claw severed, the other immobilized at the shoulder, and half its legs removed or too damaged to function, it was helpless. Now that its head was in reach and it was unable to defend itself, the mantis's fate was sealed. Brighid advanced into the range of its declawed arm, ignoring the futile battering of its stump against her armor, and decapitated the monster with her glaive.

Aidan Lostlorn's party has earned 125,000 experience for killing 1 Tree-top Tyrant.

You have earned an additional 250 experience from Stolen Destiny.

You have earned an additional 1,250 experience from Novice rank in Animamancy.

"Where did that thing come from? I know mantids are ambush predators, but it was twenty feet tall!" Aidan exclaimed.

"I think it was lurking on the tree trunk and crawled down behind us," Brighid explained. "All I know for sure is that when I looked up, it was blocking the way back."

"We'll need to pay more attention to the environment, I guess. Any idea if any of it would make for useful materials? I doubt this is where the Emerald Chitin comes from, given that it's brown all over."

"It will not be useful for me," Brighid replied, "but that chitin is quite tough. I bet we can find uses for it. Everything here is a potential resource, we should not waste any of it."

"I was afraid you'd say that," Aidan sighed. "Okay, let's get to work, then."

Aidan

Late Morning

The meat, fragments, and claw fit within Aidan's Handy Haversack, but the plates had to be strapped to Llwyd and Brighid's backs. "What are parties without spatial storage supposed to do in situations like this?"

"Bring beasts of burden. Labyrinth monsters will ignore animals that are brought in from outside. Before you get any clever ideas, though," Ailis drawled, "that is only while in the presence of an adventuring party. Animals that are left unattended vanish; whether monsters eat them or the Labyrinth does something else with them is unknown."

"So no using the Labyrinth as a safe place for livestock. Got it. Well, we still don't have either of the materials we need to make the escape tokens. Is anyone hurt or tired? No? Alright, let's push on a bit further then."

They shoved the Tyrant's remains over the side of the path and then continued along. However, after sixty or so feet, the branch narrowed and then ended in a cluster of broad, rubbery leaves large enough for them to stand on. Further ahead, the party could see another branch; the leaves seemed to be growing out of both and forming a bridge between them. Aidan stepped forward to test whether the leaves would hold his weight but hesitated when he saw Brighid trembling.

"Let's double back for now. There was a split in the path near the entrance, and we might as well stay on solid ground as long as we can," Aidan decided. Brighid shot him a grateful look. "I doubt we'll be able to avoid this forever," he told her, his voice quiet.

"I know, but I appreciate the reprieve." Brighid caught his hand and gave it a squeeze. Aidan brought her fingers to his lips, brushed a kiss across her knuckles, then dropped her hand, and made his way back to his place in the formation. It only took a couple of minutes for the five adventurers to backtrack to the Labyrinth's start and turn down the path they bypassed earlier.

The branch curled to the right over about a hundred feet, coming to rest against the tree containing the Labyrinth portal. Roughly halfway down its length, a second branch crossed over it, leading upward at a slight incline towards another tree trunk. "Look!" Llwyd pointed towards the portal tree. "There at the end of the branch, there's sap flowing from the tree."

Sure enough, thick, green goop seeped out a hole in the bark and dribbled down onto the branch. "Keep your eyes open," Aidan cautioned. "I don't want another of those Tyrants surprising us."

"Aye-aye, boss!" Cai chirped. "We will stay alert for signs of twenty-foot-tall bugs that look exactly like oversized twigs when they are not moving. Like, say, that twig. Or that one. Or that one..."

"Less sass, more doing your job!"

"Yes, sir, Lord Aidan, sir!" She laughed back at him.

Zurai

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