Chapter 26: Chapter 26 – That Which Lies Beneath

Chapter 26 - That Which Lies Beneath

Fortunately, good old dead wood was a fairly decent solution to our problems. It was not a particularly good solution, but it was something. And we had it in abundance as the branches from the dead trees in the graveyard were scattered everywhere. To be sure, they were not overly strong and were tending toward rot, but it was better than trying to kill things with our bare hands.

They were much more useful, however, for making torches. Jax being a regular fire bug, he had a couple going in no time, and within minutes, we were ready to explore this new passage.

That all was fine. Or… not fine exactly, but serviceable. What was truly irritating, however, was not so much the loss of our improvised weapons, but the fact that our Gems of Power had been left back at the old camp. All we had left was a single one sitting in my pocket from when Hess had watched us the night previous.

Maybe I was being a bit paranoid, but having lost so many, even if only temporarily, made me anxious to get it down the hatch as quickly as possible. So, while Hess descended the stairs to do a quick scout about, I held it out to Jax. Figuring it was only fair, I offered to let him eat this one, seeing as how I had done it last.

“Nay, mate,” he shook his head. “Ye get on with it. If I’m honest, it’s worse the other way around.”

“Worse?” I asked, confused. “How so?”

He screwed his eyes up for a moment, trying to think of how to explain it, “Stronger, mebbe? But not exactly that.” Finally, he shook his head, “I can nay put it to words.”

“Alright, then,” I said, after a moment. It was really not all that important, after all. If Jax wanted me to do it, then that was just fine. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Heaving a sigh, he turned around and pulled down his pants. Silently giving me a thumbs up, he readied himself. Honestly, we were going to have to figure out a training regimen or… well, I did not know. Something anyway. Jax being unable to control himself during these Core strengthening sessions was a bit much, but for the time being, I just had to deal with the fact that he really could not help it.

Not wanting to waste any more time, I went ahead and popped the little Gem into my mouth. Wanting to give the man as much privacy as I could afford, I studiously avoided looking at him while the flow of power once again swelled in my core. Taking some comfort in the sensation and trying to ignore the leak flowing out to Jax, my gaze drifted to the sky, and I idly studied a few clouds drifting by, themselves unaware and quite uncaring of the people below and their little problems.

That lasted right up until Jax let out a decidedly unmanly gasp and fell to his knees. My attention was unconsciously drawn by the sound, and when my eyes settled on the man, I found him sitting on his ankles, bent forward and with hands on knees. I was not sure, but it looked like his legs might be shaking slightly.

“Well, Jax…” I started. Whatever else I had thought to say was lost, however, as my attention was inexorably pulled to movement just to his left. At first, I had a moment of panic, as it looked like the ground was coming alive. But it was no Zombie that emerged. Instead, Jax’s very shadow seemed to gain solid form and stood up.

Startled, I shouted in alarm and jumped back. Jax reacted instantly. His axe flashed into his hand, and he leapt to my side, wide-eyed, looking for the danger -- his pants still around his ankles. His shadow did not exactly mimic him, but it also summoned up a shadowy axe and went on guard.

For a moment, we stared at the shadow while it surveyed the horizon, apparently looking for danger.

“Well well…” Hess said from the stairs, “what have you boys been up to?”

 

It did not take us long to put two and two together. This apparently being a manifestation of Jax’s newest skill, we all gathered around to investigate the shadowy figure.

“How long does it last?” I asked.

“Do nay know,” Jax replied, pulling his pants back up -- this time, mercifully spooge-free. “Be based on me skill, She sayin’.”

“How durable is it?” Hess asked, poking at it. “Can it attack?” While she annoyed it, the shadow seemed to be doing its level best to look aggressive, which indicated to me that it was not overly intelligent, if at all. Although, it seemed to be trying to keep her from approaching Jax and myself.

“It should nay be able to attack,” Jax replied, but before he could continue, the shadow stopped moving and dissolved with the wind.

“Aww…” Hess said mournfully. “Make another one. I want to punch it!”

Jax cleared his throat, “Ah… It do be a trifle embarrassing.”

I smiled in sympathy. Yeah, I’ll bet.

Sherr Hess, though, just crossed her arms. “This is for combat, right? You need to be able to do it on command.”

Jax looked at me pleadingly for a moment, and I was tempted to intercede. Unfortunately, Hess was right. “Hey, I feel for you, man. Maybe, you could go for more of a… uh… gentlemanly grunt this time?”

Jax scowled at me, but there was not much he could say in retort. And we both knew it. Swallowing his pride, he widened his stance, and closing his eyes, he grunted forcefully.

We waited. Nothing happened.

Jax’s face slowly reddened as we stared at him in the silence. Finally, probably more to break the awkwardness than anything, he tried again, louder this time. He even included a bit of a pelvic thrust.

Still nothing.

“Ye gotta be kiddin’ me,” he sighed.

“Is that not good enough? How did you do it last time?” Hess asked, curiously.

“Maybe it has to be genuine?” I said diplomatically.

“Hmm… could be,” Hess said. “How did She phrase the skill description, exactly?”

Jax sighed. Taking a moment to listen once again, he reported, “Just that I do gotta ‘moan with excitement’.”

“That’s it, then,” Hess opined. “That was a grunt not a moan.”

“Aw, come on!” he protested, looking back and forth at us for support. But there was nothing either of us could do about it. “This be kickin’ a feller’s pride, sure.”

“Okay… uh… maybe still grunt, but let it… turn up at the end a bit?” I suggested.

“A grunt into a moan?” Hess said, with a head-tilt. “Could work.”

Taking a moment to gather himself, probably from the absurdity of the situation, he tried again, taking our suggestions to heart, and let loose an elongated grunty moan. It was a bit weak and did not sound much like anything more than what it was, a poor attempt at simulated sexual excitement. It worked, though. Kind of.

The shadow that formed was faint and much less distinct than the other one had been, but it was there, at least. Sherr Hess smiled happily just the same, and not wasting any time, delivered a mighty jab right into its face. From where I was standing, it certainly looked like she had hit something, and the shadowy Jax even seemed to have been taken by surprise. The second her fist made contact, though, the phantasm dissipated.

“Well, that was disappointing. I barely even felt anything,” she said with a frown.

I nodded. It would seem that authenticity was a factor here. And now that we had something of a handle on the ability, I figured it was time to get moving. “What did you find down in the passage?” I asked Hess.

“Nothing dangerous so far,” she replied absently. Clearly, she still wanted to play with Jax’s shadow puppets, but she was wise enough to see that we needed to move on. “You two may as well come look.”

With that, she took up a torch and led the way down, and hefting a makeshift club -- and by that I mean a half-rotted tree branch -- I followed. The steps and the walls were composed of mismatched stone bricks of varying sizes, and for some reason, everything was wet. I mean, I suppose that if I were to imagine an underground secret passage, ‘wet’ would be a thing that I would certainly expect. But things need a reason to be damp like that, and I could see no source for it.

Looking closely, there was a fine layer of moss outlining each of the bricks but mysteriously, the moss was totally absent from the floor. I was silently thankful for that fact, as the combination of wet and moss on the ground would have made for quite perilous footing. As it was, the traction was just fine.

At the bottom of the steps, there was a passage leading straight on and with no deviation as far as the torchlight stretched. It was just wide enough for two people to walk comfortably side by side and tall enough that I could not have jumped to touch the ceiling. This continued for about a minute of walking. Worn bricks, mossy walls, and a thick unchanging humidity were the only features to accompany our echoing footsteps.

Eventually, I began to hear the faint trickle of flowing water, and a few paces later, we entered into a smallish room with a fountain set against the far wall. The fountain was simple in design, featuring only a single sculpted flower rising from the center of the basin from which water spilled in a continuous flow. Besides that, there were two doorways set into the left and right walls with a sign over each, probably indicating where they might lead.

“This is as far as I got before I decided to turn around,” Hess told us in a low voice.

“Did you try the water here?” I asked, indicating the fountain. I still did not feel too desperate for the liquid, but I certainly would not turn it down if it were offered me.

She nodded, “Yeah, it’s fine. Actually, let me show you something.” Walking forward, she pointed at the flower. “You’ll find installations like this in the Dungeon pretty frequently. You need to pay attention to the decorations to tell if they’re safe. This one was pretty obvious. If you count the number of petals on this flower, you’ll get eight. Even numbers are always more or less safe. Odd numbers never are. Remember that!”

“‘More or less’,” Jax repeated with a degree of skepticism.

“Right,” she nodded, “See, ‘safe to drink’ doesn’t always mean ‘has no effects’.”

“Such as?” I asked, making no move toward the fountain.

“There are too many to list,” she said, “but the last one I went through had a pond in it that would make you see colors in reverse for a few minutes. Very disorienting, let me tell you. Turned out, though, you needed that to solve a puzzle.”

“What ‘bout this one here?” Jax asked.

“Nothing that I noticed,” she said. “Tasted pretty good, too.”

Jax and I glanced at each other briefly before stepping forward as one.

“Thought you didn’t need to drink anymore,” I said in a low voice.

“I do nay know if’n I’s needin’ it, but I be havin’ a thirst on me, the same,” he clarified. Then, a bit louder, he said, “Let me have the first go at ‘er. Just in case.”

With a gesture, I gave him the go ahead, and scarcely hesitating, he dipped a cupped hand into the liquid. Giving it a suspicious sniff, he sipped a small amount into his mouth. Apparently satisfied, he swallowed.

As I was watching him closely, I could see immediately that he had heard something, and was listening intently. “Seems it do be havin’ an effect, after all,” he reported. “Poison resistance.”

“Ah, okay,” Sherr Hess said regretfully, “Sorry about that. I’m pretty resistant to poison already. It’s a Tramp thing.”

I was perfectly fine with being resistant to poison, after all, so setting my reservations aside, I succumbed to my thirst and dove in. The water was crisp, cold, and tasted very faintly of roasted coffee, and that by itself almost had me considering ways of bottling the stuff. A moment later I heard the tell-tale <blip!> followed by an expected pop-up.

Staring at the timer slowly ticking down, I had a moment of suspicion. “Does this mean we have to accomplish something within five minutes? Something involving poison?” I asked in concern, turning to Hess.

“Five minutes, huh?” she replied thoughtfully. “Seems likely. In that case, we should go.” Pointing to the door on the left she reported, “That way says ‘Tongues’, and that way,” she swung her arm to the right, “says ‘Extra Tongues’.”

Jax looked at me, “I do nay like the sound of either one, truth.”

“Agreed. And might I say that I, for one, would vote for fewer tongues,” I said as lightly as possible.

“Aye that,” Jax replied.

“Oh, no, we’re going this way,” Hess laughed at us, pointing to the right. “Extra danger means extra rewards.” Hefting her dead tree branch over her shoulder, she elaborated, “And I need beer money.”

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“Beer money?! I gots all the reward ye need right here, ye boot,” Jax said, pointing with both hands at his crotch.

Hess laughed heartily, and slapping her ass for us, she started away.

It was a crude line with a crude response, but Hess seemed to like it. Maybe that was the kind of thing she responded to. I figured I would file that one away for later. You never knew.

I did not have any more time to think about it, though, as she was already starting to vanish around a corner. Quickly taking another sip from the fountain to refresh the timer, I hurried after her... Keeping well back, though. Immediately jumping into the hard route seemed like a hasty decision to me, but I was clearly not in charge of this expedition.

The path wound around to the left and further down. As we descended, the pervasive wetness covering everything began to accumulate on the floor until we were splashing through about an inch of water, and as the saturation increased, so did the moss’ density. It thickened until the walls were positively covered with the stuff, and once there was no more room for it to grow there, it spread to the ceiling and floor. The walkable path narrowed slowly as we went, as the moss made walking along the edges all but impossible.

Weirdly, I began to detect an odor as we went. It was not the murky, stagnant scent that I usually associated with still water. No, this was a sweet smell, almost like honeysuckle or a candied perfume. After a few steps, we found the source of it.

Here and there, in amongst the moss, weird looking, thick, orange flowers started popping up. I could not tell if they were the flowers that the moss put out or if they were a separate organism entirely. Either way, they were creeping me out, undulating in an apparent wind… in the dark and notably windless tunnel. I made it a goal to avoid touching them at all costs. Unfortunately, it seemed that I was not going to have much choice in the matter.

Soon after discovering the flowers, the tunnel widened out considerably, and Hess came to a stop, holding her torch aloft to get a better look. There was something out in that room. Something big. We could see faint reflections coming off of its slimy body from the torch.

“Hess,” Jax whispered, “look there.” He pointed at a bowl of some kind set into the side of the wall, just over our heads.

Wordlessly, she held the torch to the indicated spot, embers dripping off of it to be snuffed out by the water below. As fire sprang to life within its new container, I realized that it was a wall sconce, set there for that express purpose. Soon enough, several others flared around the room, illuminating it in flickering orange light.

My heart sank as I took in the now revealed chamber, and the thing it contained. Its presence should have been impossible, and yet somehow, I recognized what I was looking at. It was a kind of thing that I had seen many times in games, after all. And it always spelled trouble when you ran across one. A plant monster. A giant plant monster.

“Well,” I muttered, “now we know what the poison resistance is for.” Neither of my companions commented.

The monster was more a mass of vines than anything, covered in thorns and countless numbers of those weird fleshy flowers. The flowers were at their smallest toward the very bottom of the creature and along the walls, however they slowly increased in size as the eye drifted upward. This slow gradient continued until, inevitably, the gaze came to rest at the summit, where the largest of them sat. If I had to guess, I would put it at perhaps an arm’s length across.

For whatever reason, it had made no move to attack us, so either it was just a very large, yet otherwise normal plant -- which I would not bet on, or it just had not noticed us. Either way, on one side of it, gleaming faintly in the light from the fires around the room, we could see the golden reflection of some kind of chest, almost buried in band after band of thick ropey plant matter.

“Uh huh,” Hess said, pointing it out to us, “What did I tell you?”

Jax heaved a sigh, “Bleedin’ daft way o’ makin’ a livin’ if yer askin’ me.”

“I wasn’t, Jax,” Hess replied, off-handedly, “but I enjoy your ever cheerful attitude, anyway.”

“Okay,” I said, stepping forward quickly to take their attention from one another, “what do we do now?” The plant still had not moved, and there was no getting to that chest without doing some serious pruning.

“Now we fight,” Hess said with her customary eagerness.

“So… what? Charge? What’s the game plan?” I asked, nervously.

“Ugh… I don’t really do plans,” Hess groaned, her shoulders slumping. “Okay… I’ll go fight it. You two… just stay back, I guess. Umm… Jax, if you see any exposed roots or a stem connecting it to the ground, go for those with your axe. Those should be weak points. Donum… just keep still and heal when you can.”

In other words, Hess would tank, Jax would DPS, and I would be the healer. I nodded to myself firmly. I could do that. Although… actually, it was more like Hess would tank and DPS while Jax would ineffectually flail at it. My only role would be vainly trying to keep people alive through this thing. Well… fine. I could do that, too. Or we would die trying.

Before either of us were ready, and without giving us so much as a by-your-leave, Hess fired off another one of those concussive spell blasts right at the big flower on the top of the monstrosity. The condensed ball of air zipped through the air and struck the vegetable just off center, but the ball’s sudden decompression ripped a jagged hole in it just the same.

That got its attention. Every single one of the flowers turned its face toward us, almost like a troop of meerkats sighting a hawk.

It did not roar or carry on like you might expect a big monster like that to do. Neither did it rise up and loom at us in some sort of intimidation display. Then again, why would it? It was a plant, after all.

Instead, its retaliation was sudden, instantaneous, and without warning. Thorns shot out in every direction, splashing into water, ricocheting off of the walls, and sinking into flesh. Jax took a gash across his shoulder as one of the dagger-sized projectiles ripped through it. Yelling in pain, he dropped to his knees, clutching at the wound. Miraculously, I appeared unscathed. Frantically checking my person for signs of injury, I discovered at least five of the tooth-like darts lodged in the wall just behind me. Hess, meanwhile, had managed to dodge all of the multitude of thorns the great plant shot at her. However, she yelped in surprise as one bounced off of a wall and lodged into her left buttock.

Cursing as she yanked the offending thorn out of her ass, Hess launched into the air, and started wailing on the giant plant with reckless abandon. Each blow absolutely pulped whatever plant matter it came into contact with. Unfortunately, a dead tree branch is not a particularly effective weapon in the best of situations, and against this particular monster, she was not going to make much headway. Sure enough, after a scant few swings, the branch snapped in half, and swearing with abandon, she tossed it aside.

Leaving Hess to do Hess things, I figured I had best get my head in the game. Jax was still injured, after all. Turning my attention back to him, I saw that he was staggering to his feet, slipping a bit from the moss underfoot, axe in hand. He was still clutching that shoulder though, and there was quite a lot of blood leaking from between his fingers. I almost ran over to him, but I stopped, cursing myself as a fool. I needed to keep still, I thought in silent admonishment. Plus, the heal did not need touch to work.

Closing my eyes for a moment to steady myself, I summoned up my spell, Renewal of Consumption. After a single false start, I spat out the mouth of marbles that were the Words to it, and raising a hand to point at him, I sent it his way. I did not know if the gesture was necessary, but for some reason, I felt as if it would be helpful. Either way, I felt the Life slipping away from me as the Energy left my body and entered Jax.

When it hit him, he gasped, and throwing his head back, he moaned loudly, high and clear. Before the sound of it died away, we were both a bit startled when a deeply black and almost vibrant shadow leapt up from the brackish waters, wielding a dark twin to his axe and ready to go. Jax stared at it for a moment through half-lidded eyes, still panting and writhing, before finally surrendering to the pleasure still coursing through him as his shoulder slowly knitted together. Thrusting his bare chest forward and his hips back, he began to run his hands all over his body, through his hair, over his face, pausing briefly at his still swollen nipples, and then down and up his inner thighs. And he moaned sensually through the whole thing.

Frankly, I was a bit disturbed by the whole display, as these were not at all the motions of male arousal… on the other hand… in other ways, I felt it was kind of hot despite myself. And I could not argue with the results. By the time the effect was over, he was surrounded by five well-formed shadows, at attention and ready to leap into danger.

When Jax came back to himself and saw what was surrounding him, he jumped back, as if unaware that he had summoned a little mirror army, and then slipped and fell on his backside. Shaking the water from his now wet hands, realization suddenly hit and his attention snapped to me, horrified at what he had been doing. I really did not know what or even if I should say anything, so I just gave him a little half-smile and a thumbs-up.

Suddenly, Hess screamed. Jerking my gaze back up to her, I saw that she was surrounded by at least half a dozen of those disgusting looking flowers, punching and kicking them into so much vegetable matter. But there were simply too many for her to keep up with, and every time her back was turned, one would lick her. That is really the only thing I can say to describe it. It would just creep up and gently lap at her with its fleshy petals, leaving a trail of slime on her body with each pass.

Whatever that slime was, it was not doing her any favors. As more and more of it coated her, her motions became halting and jerky, and her face was locked into a rictus of pain. Finally, unable to take it anymore, she leapt clear, and landing in the water, she began to writhe and roll about in the shallow water, trying to wash the mucus from her body. Unfortunately, it was too thick and the water just beaded up and rolled off of it like Hess was covered in oil.

Running over to try and help, I called out, “Jax, get its attention.” With a curt nod, he jumped to his feet, and he and his little army of shadowy mimics charged the vine.

Reaching down, I did my best to scoop the stuff from off of her skin. It was not easy. It burned as I touched it, but it was bearable in small amounts. Quickly checking my timer, I saw that I still had about thirty seconds left before the poison resistance ran out. I could only imagine what it would feel like after that.

“Fucking ‘snails, that hurts,” Hess groaned as I scooped another handful of slime from her arm, myself grimacing from the pain.

“We need to get out of here,” I yelled as one of the vines started to approach us. Taking up a broken half of Sherr Hess’ club, I did my best to fend it off, but it was a losing battle. “Jax and I are almost out of time. We need to regroup.”

While I was shouting at her, another volley of thorns shot everywhere. I was caught completely off-guard, busy as I was swinging my little half-club with reckless abandon, and one of the huge thorns shot straight through my left foot, pinning me to the ground. Immediately dropping my weapon, I fell to a knee, curling around my injury and trying to fight back tears. The damned thorns burned even worse than the mucus!

Quickly glancing around to see if anyone else had been injured, I saw that Jax only had a few scratches, though three of his clones had gone down shielding him from the volley. Hess, meanwhile, had been missed entirely this time, as she was still lying prone behind me.

Beginning to panic from the pain and the general situation, I looked up to see the flower that I had been fending off approaching me, seemingly hungry if that were possible. Jerking back, I slipped on the moss and fell onto my backside, my foot bent at an awkward angle from being nailed to the floor.

“Help!” I screamed out.

From the side, Hess ran over, and jerking the offending thorn from my foot and hurling it right into the center of the drooling flower, she grabbed me up and called out, “Jax, we’re going!” Waiting not a second longer, she fled back up the passage. Jax was only a second behind, and running for all he was worth, he still had enough presence of mind to grab up the torch that was leaning against the wall. His last shadow dove in the way of a trailing vine to cover our escape.

 

About halfway back up the slope, Jax and I began to scream in earnest. Our protection had worn off, and what we had thought was pain was in fact only a dim illusion. It felt as if my hands and injured foot were burning off, the pain slowly creeping up my limbs, as if I were being digested in the open air.

“Oh hush, you two,” Hess admonished us. “It’s not that bad.”

“Watcher’s Eye, Hess!” I said in reply, “It feels like I’m melting.”

“You’ve only got a bit on your hands,” she replied teasingly. “And you don’t even have any on you,” she said to Jax. “What are you yelling about?”

“Feels like me flamin’ blood be boilin’,” he said through gritted teeth.

Hess sighed, “Just hang on a little longer.”

Sure enough, once we got to the fountain, its cool, crisp waters washed away all of our ails. Not only did it renew our Poison Resistance buff, which helped a lot all by itself, but it actually cut through the leftover mucus on our bodies like dish soap through oil. In a few moments, we were as good as new, save for our various wounds. Even Hess partook, gently washing the leftover mucus from off of herself, though she made much less of a spectacle of herself in doing so.

In short order, as my foot was still throbbing from being pierced through, I had my spell cast and sighed in relief as my flesh slowly knitted back together. Sitting to enjoy the sensation, I glanced over at Hess. I could see that she had what looked like pretty severe chemical burns all over her body, though she was not showing any signs of being in pain.

“Should I cast my spell on you?” I asked her, “Or are you okay? You regenerate, right?”

She nodded, “Eventually. Not as fast as I would if I were drinking, but it still works.” Taking a long look over at Jax, she asked, “Will it do to me what it did to him?”

“Noticed that, huh?” I glanced at my companion, who was currently studiously avoiding eye contact. “Yeah, it should. If you want it to.”

She looked at me consideringly, “How much Life do you have to spend?”

I tilted my head in self-reflection, “Uhm… I’m a bit peckish… So, I guess I should be fine as long as it isn’t too strong.”

“Do it then,” she said definitively. “It should do more good than harm.”

“Alright,” I said, raising my hand. “Are you ready?”

She smiled, “Oh, I’ve been ready, little man.” Ignoring the provocation, I prepared myself to cast the spell, but she interrupted me again. “Not like that. Touch me.”

“What?” I said, the Words scattering in my mind.

“Come on, touch me! I want to see if it’ll be stronger that way,” she explained eagerly.

“Oh… okay,” I said, momentarily nonplussed. Not that kind of touch.

Reaching out once again, I gently laid my palm against her exposed thigh. In response, she stepped forward to face me fully and widened her stance, exposing herself to me. From the feral grin she was sporting, I would bet that she was daring me to go for it. And truthfully, I was half tempted to try it, but… if I were wrong, she was quite capable of ripping my arm off.

“Is this okay?” I asked, lightly clearing my throat. Best to get explicit instructions in this kind of situation, I figured.

Her expression turned smug, “That’ll do fine. Now cast your spell. I want to see what you… it will do to me.” I noted the slip, if it really were one at all. Probably not, I decided.

Dispelling her constant teasing from my mind, I resummoned the Words to mind. It took me a bit longer than normal, as I was staring directly at the woman’s vagina, but I eventually managed the cast… though, I might have pushed just a little too hard. Accidentally.

“Fucking ‘stits!” Hess shouted, her eyes bulging. Her legs quivered for a moment under my palm before she fell forward, trying to use me to keep her balance. Unfortunately, I was not quite up to the task of holding up her muscular bulk, and we went down in a tangle of limbs. I would say that it was fun to have an attractive woman reach a screeching orgasm on top of me, which she most certainly did, if it were not for her absolutely crushing weight. I honestly tried my best to just bear it out and wait for her to finish… until she passed out.

Shit… I may have used just a tad too much juice there. Struggling for air, I pushed as hard as I could against her limp form, but she would not budge. “Jax,” I eventually gasped in between short gulping breaths, “Jax, help! I can’t breathe.”

When he did not respond, I squirmed from underneath Hess to try and see where he was. When I found him, I was taken aback, as he was staring at the two of us with his hands between his legs and no less than three shadows surrounding him.

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