Chapter 57 - Site Two Part 1 (Patreon)

AN:  I went through and made a few changes to chapter 56 as well as renaming it.  Part two will have a bigger fight scene in it.

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During the night, the party was attacked by crabs.  The high tide displaced them, and they were fighting for the land containing the group’s campsite.  They were not much of a threat, but their bodies were the size of an adult human head.  Violet had not found out about it until it was time for her watch in the morning.  She used the crab meat to cook crab cakes for breakfast and scrambled eggs.

When Zane woke, he requested a biscuit and made a crab cake and egg breakfast sandwich.  After seeing him do this, Violet rolled her eyes and conjured several more biscuits so everyone could emulate his idea.  They still had a few hours to wait for the tide to be low enough for their purposes, so the other two took their time getting up.

When a blurry-eyed Regina made her way out of the wagon to find breakfast, Zane said, “Our sleeping beauty has graced us with her presence!”  Regina made a hand gesture at Zane and then looked for food.

“How are things looking?”  Regina asked after she had finished eating breakfast.

“I estimate we will be able to enter in an hour or so.  We’ll need to stick to the western portions of the building, to begin with, to avoid flooded sections.”  Rick said from behind the wagon, startling them.

“Come get breakfast, you big oaf.  Were you out scouting?”  Zane called out.

“Boy, you know darn well I was.  You need to start teaching the girls to be more aware of their surroundings.”  Rick grunted and smiled when Violet presented him with a crab cake sandwich.

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“Explain the plan to me again?”  Regina asked as they approached the ancient building.

“We stick together. Zane is in front while Rick guards our rear.  I still don't know why you two are being so paranoid.  If there are more crabs, we can take care of them.”  Violet replied.

“Do you have any idea what kinds of animals make their homes in and around ancient buildings?!?  Yes, we are going to be safe.  We have time. If we cant reach everything, we will come back during the next low tide.”  Zane said, annoyed that the girls were still not taking things seriously enough.

It was hard to tell what the original structure looked like.  To enter the ruin, they had to jump down into the building from a hole in the wall.  Rick took the time to secure four different ropes from various trees to ensure they had an easy and safe way to retreat.

Zane jumped down into the building with his sword out and ready to defend himself.  He roamed around the room, checking for dangers before he gave the all-clear for everyone else to follow him down.  When it was Violet’s turn, she emulated Regina and used the rope to lower herself down to the floor.

The lights were no longer operational, but the sunlight still provided them with light to see by.  If there was any paint on the walls, it had been washed away with the seawater long ago.  A layer of sand coated the floor, and smaller crustaceans ran away from Violet whenever she got too close.

Two doorways were leading away from the room they were in.  One was along the northwest wall, and the other was on the southeast wall.  Zane led the group through the northwestern doorway when everyone was ready with his light turned on.

The hallway they entered was five feet wide and still had water dripping in several places along the walls.  Despite, or maybe because of this water, the walls were covered in vines with moss-like growths.  When Zane shone his light on the wall, there was a hive of activity scuttling away from the brightness.  Violet saw spiders, miniature crabs, and even worms moving throughout the mass on the walls.  The floors were sand-covered and showed signs of snakes or eels crossing along the bottom.

“Oh gross!  Worms.”  Regina said when she noticed what was along the walls.  Violet didn't blame her. Some worms were over two feet long and three inches in diameter.  The four of them made an effort to stay as far away from the walls as possible to avoid the critters.

As they progressed, single file down the hallway, they began to hear a hissing noise.  At first, it was hard to hear, but as they neared the back of the hallway, more sources joined in the hissing.  “I think we are about to find whatever made those marks in the sand.  Eyes sharp, give everyone room to fight, and avoid the walls.”  Zane said in a business-like manner.

“We are surrounded,”  Rick said gruffly while drawing dual swords and flipping on his light.  When Violet turned around to see what he was talking about, four snakes were caught in his beam.  They were six feet long and three inches in diameter.  She was about to make a wisecrack about it not being a problem when she noticed even more snakes hidden along the vine-covered walls.

“I’ll take the left wall. Regina, you take the right,”  Violet said while using her Water Manipulation to freeze the left wall.  There wasn’t enough moisture to freeze everything on the wall, so she quickly switched to increasing the gravity.  This caused several vines to snap and fall to the ground along with the critters.  She carefully increased gravity on the snakes that fell to the floor, immobilizing them.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Rick slicing heads off anything that jumped at him.   Zane was conjuring sharpened stone and using telekinesis to attack anything that moved.  She could not see what Regina was doing, but she seemed to have things well in hand.

Turning back to her self-assigned wall, she began to shoot shards of ice at the heads and necks of every creature that twitched.  By the time she was sure no snakes were left alive, the sounds of fighting around her had also stopped.

Taking a deep breath, Violet said, “Is everyone ok?”  After receiving a confirmation, she decided to Analyze everyone, including herself, just to be safe.  Zane and Regina were both unharmed when she tested them.  When she tested Rick, she detected trace amounts of venom in his bloodstream.

While she was using Cure Poison, she went into lecture mode.  “Rick, I need to know about it when you are hurt.  Even a scratch could turn deadly if poison is not caught in time.”

Rick mumbled something too low to be heard.

“What was that?”  Violet asked.

“I SAID I DIDN'T GET HURT!” Rick yelled, causing everyone to flinch.

“There was venom in your body.  You don’t need to yell.  It is ok,”  Violet said quietly.

“I may have swallowed some blood during the melee.  I. Did. Not. Get. Hit.”  Rick said forcefully.

“Well then, let’s get exploring!” Zane said with far too much cheer.

There were no more large encounters with the local wildlife while they explored the rooms.  The vines did not spread any further than the hallway, so the group could explore the rooms unhindered.   There were still a few snakes that survived, but Violet and Zane made a game of who could kill them the fastest.

When Zane and Rick’s lights started to flicker, they all headed out for the day.  The tide would be coming back in soon, and they did not want to play in the water just yet.  The lights had been a success.  They had lasted for eight hours of use at medium intensity.  The highest setting practically blinded everyone and was not needed.

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Once they arrived at their camp for the night, Rio decided to make himself known.  “And where have you been, Mr. Rio?”  Violet asked when he landed on her shoulder.

“Caw, Intruder in camp, caw, look for traps,”  Rio said, and then he flew off and landed on a nearby tree branch.

All four drew or conjured their weapons and began to look at everything with a critical eye.  Violet stood back and used Spell Vision to look for any remaining wisps of magic.  “Magic is coming from the top of the wagon, most likely the teleport tokens.  I can see some magic coming from inside the carriage, as well as some magic coming off of Raya and Hunter.”

“Violet, check the roof and make sure the teleport tokens are unharmed.  Regina, send a Decoy in to check on the inside of the wagon.  Rick, help me figure out what was done to the amberclaws.”  Zane said.

Violet used a Decoy to go up and look at the wagon’s roof.  From what she could see, nothing had been moved or tampered with.  At least in regards to her teleport tokens.  She had taken the time to enchant the top of the carriage with a disguise so the critical items would not be easily spotted.

The boxes on the roof had all been dumped out or rifled through.  She made a Mental Note to herself to check all of their foodstuffs for poison going forward.  Violet was thankful for the ability to detect poison.  Unfortunately, her Decoy could not use the spell, so she needed to wait for Regina to finish her interior inspection.  After visually inspecting the roof, she dismissed her double and walked over to the two amberclaws.

“It looks like they were given a sleeping draft,”  Zane said when she approached.

Violet nodded and walked up to the animals.  Placing her hand on Raya, she used Analyze and looked for anything more dangerous.  “I’m going to clear the sleeping potion out of her system, be ready to soothe her.”  She said when she found no other complications.

Raya jumped up, ready to fight as soon as Violet cleared the toxins out of her system.  It took both Rick and Zane to soothe the beast before she was even close calmed down.  “You need to wake Hunter, or she will never completely settle down,”  Rick said while holding Raya back.

Hunter woke ready to defend himself.  When he saw Raya, they could calm him a little faster, but it still took the four of them an hour with the amberclaws before they were calm enough to be left alone.  Tamed Amberclaws were fiercely loyal to their mate and anyone they considered their pack.  The cats had grown up with Regina often around, so she was considered family.  The other three party members were tolerated because of Regina’s presence.

Once everything had settled down, Violet started to make dinner while the others cleaned up their belongings.  They all sat down to discuss how the day went when it was ready.  This was their regular routine, but they had much more to discuss today.

“I couldn’t find anything that was missing from our supplies.  I’m not sure what they were looking for.”  Regina said.

“The food did not look tampered with.  What I have spot-checked so far has not been poisoned or damaged in any way.”  Violet reported.

“I followed the trail of the intruder into the treeline, but as usual, I lost the trail not too far in.  I think it may be the same person or group of persons who have been following us this entire time.”  Zane said.

“They gave the amberclaws meat infused with the sleeping draft.  I found an uneaten piece,”  Rick growled.  He had grown very fond of the beasts throughout their trip and was unhappy.

“When we go back to the ruin tomorrow, what can we do to prevent this from happening again?”  Zane asked.

“Regina and I can take turns keeping a Decoy on watch duty.  I don't like the idea of one of us staying out here alone,”  Violet suggested while Regina nodded in agreement.

“Do you think it is even worth going back in that place?  We didn't find anything of note when we went in today.  If there were carvings or paint, it’s all gone now,”  Zane asked.

“It is possible that the submerged part of the ruin is better preserved.  I’m not ready to give up on this place.  We were able to deduce that this was a Water Magic structure.  I’m hoping to find something to make this trip worth it,”  Violet said.

The group spoke a little more about lighter subjects until it was time for bed.  Even though the crabs were likely to set off the perimeter alarms, they all agreed to use them every night going forward.  So far, their stalker had not harmed anything permanently, but they didn't know how long that would last.