[IC] Goblin Slayer: Newblood (CANCELLED)

[Shard]

Slowly lowering their lantern to the floor, Shade squinted as he maintained a lingering gaze on the corpse. While neither the first nor the last cadaver he would come across, the boy took a moment to trace his fingertips across the bones. Several bite marks could be seen, clearly strewn across its shape. The head had fallen off, and nothing remained but the very shell of what had once carried a person. “It’s been a while..,” Shade commented, feeling the dry nature of the bones against his dainty fingers, “must have been a sewage worker,” he continued, before managing a soft sigh, “or an adventurer.” This could very well be the fate of all three, killed and forgotten within the disgusting confines of a sewer. It was somewhat fitting, one might add, at least for the assassin. He was born in darkness, and perhaps he would die in it, as well.

With the lantern lighting their surroundings from where Shade had left it upon the floor, the boy stared into ever-growing darkness with streams of light weakly peering through grates above. Clenching his teeth, the Dark Elf was unable to ignore sounds of squeaking, accompanied by the padding of small, filthy feet. Rats were coming. “Archer,” Shade spoke, the word leaving his lips at a rapid pace once the forms of two rats made themselves known.

Large, furry creatures leaped into the circle of light which spread its way around the party, gnashing and gnawing teeth attempting to hungrily dig their way into flesh. Behind them, another two rats charged the group with a lone halberdier tasked to keep them at bay. “Damn, a pincer move,” Shade clenched his teeth. They were rats, but they were also hunters, and they had killed humans, before. A pile of bones next to the party made that abundantly clear.

Shade leaned towards his quick reflexes and dashed aside, avoiding the devastating pounce of a rabid, filthy beast. The boy’s footwork allowed for him to rapidly swing his blade, leaving a trail of blood on the floor, before the sound of a squealing rat filled their ears. It would not allow such a meager wound to slow the beast down, however. Swiping at Shade, the rat pounced forth and managed to knock the assassin into a hard, stone wall. Sharp, rotting teeth attempted to sink their way into his skin, before biting down on the edge of his blade, where he guarded himself against the otherwise finishing blow. He slid the blade out from between his enemy’s teeth, leaving a long cut across the rat’s cheeks, but was yet again standing against a viciously pouncing beast.

“Shit..,” Shade yelped, moments before he was pushed over and hit the floor, a massive rat climbing atop of his small frame. Through pure reflex, the assassin shoved his blade through the rat’s temple only moments before its teeth managed to reach his face. Instead, the beast slumped on his body, deadweight now pushing him down without remorse. “Goblins would..,” he panted, slowly pushing himself out from beneath the monster, “have been better..,” Shade finished.

[Xaltwind]

Rats! Litterally and figuratively!

The little monsters had cleverly laid an ambush, clearly using the pile of bones as bait to draw in unexpecting prey, only to pounce on them with the all the cunning and skill of a master assassin! ... Or, perhaps not... Regardless, the situation was nevertheless very real and very dangerous. With one of the vermin rushing straight past Guard Lady, the half-elf turned as quickly as she could in order to intercept it. Alas it was too late, the little mongrel had already begun attacking the hooded boy. What a failure on her part, or so she thought, she had been in charge of front and yet she had let their very first enemy just slip by her, shameful.

Still, there was time to redeem herself yet! A second rat from behind was dashing towards their archer-friend, hell-bent on catching them from behind. Even if she were to try and help the boy fend off his attacker, her weapon wasn't exactly suited for small, precise attacks and chances were that she'd take the head off her companion just as well as the rat if she tried swinging for it. Thus, she decided to move infront of their forgeiner-friend, placing herself between the other girl and the oncoming rat. With a swift, determined movement she raised the polearm and brought it down sideways in an attempted horizontal slash.

Sadly, the rat - while much bigger than usual - was able to see the attack coming and somehow managed to evade the cleaving swing. Having missed her mark, Guard Lady became unbalanced and had to recover from her failed attack. This moment of disarray allowed the huge vermin the chance to counter, and so it did - leaping into te air and biting down on the girl's torso. HEr leather armor buckled and deformed slightly under the large frontal fang of the rat, but it was durable enough to withstand being pierced through at the very least. The sudden addition of weight on her torso was enough to stagger the half-elf though, and in a clumbsy backwards motion, she dropped her weapon and fell on her bum, trying with all her might to pull the beast loose from herself, all the while cursing under her breath.

[The Irish Tree]

As soon as the squeaks were heard, Steppe Archer's hand moved to her sword's hilt, while her other hand drew her bow. Her quiver, mounted on her hip was poised in such a way that she could draw from either her sheath or quiver in an instant, suited for switch-hitting just in case someone thought an archer foolish enough to go in with a bow and naught else. Two Rats approached, nothing too dangerous from the flank. In an instant, an arrow flicked into her fingers, immediately being knocked, drawn, and shot, piercing the rat's eye and tearing straight into the brain. The remaining rat would turn its head up to meet Steppe Archer's eyes, and, to a beast, her wild appearance would seem intimidating. Her large hair only added to her mass, making her 5'7" lithe form more akin to a beast of almost six feet in height and double her width. It was as if they were staring down a bear with golden eyes, trained to kill and transfixed on the twosome that flanked.

Perhaps there was a moment of regret in the rat's eyes before an arrow pierced its skull, its last second of life spent feeling the agony of grey matter being twisted into a bloodied puree. Or perhaps it just lamented not clawing the archer's throat out. It was no matter what it thought however, as Steppe Archer heard the quickening squeaks and squeals behind her, forcing her to refocus on the party. In just a split second, everything was starting to go awry. Shade had been grappled, but managed to slay his adversary in the nick of time. The Guard Lady however was faring less well, having received a bite to her armor in a bid to intercept the rat that was no doubt dashing past her given her position. Steppe Archer had to act quickly, and drew her blade. Hurriedly sidestepping Guard Lady, she would drop her bow to the ground before Shade and draw her skinning knife as well, driving the knife into the back of the rat in order to distract it, then with all her might shift its weight off of Guard Lady before going in to behead it. Once that was fininshed, she would look around hurriedly, trying to see if there were any more rats.

She was...brutally efficient in her dispensing of beasts. In an instant she would draw the skinning knife free of the beast and relax a smidge if the coast was clear. Offering a hand to her half elven compatriot, she asked: "Are you both doing alright!? It didn't bite through, did it?"

[Shard]

One rat remained, which had fallen into obscurity throughout the chaos. However, Shade was well enough on his feet by the time their final foe made itself known. Leaping towards him, the smallest and quite apparently the weakest member of the group, it was only natural. Animals tended to go for the runts and left larger pray untouched if such an outcome was possible. Shade grasped his blade and displayed a dextrous feat indeed, sliding beneath the remaining beast as it leaped, and with an expertly executed swing, the Dark Elf severed its feet from place. He rolled back to position through fluid motions, as if a passing stream.

The boy’s enemy had been paralyzed, and could no longer keep moving with its hind paws removed. Taking the opportunity Shade plunged his blade into the monster’s skull, heavy breathing leaving his lips as the boy retracted his weapon with some difficulty. “Dad would kill me..,” he muttered, stumbling back after freeing his weapon, “if he knew that I was ambushed.” The Dark Elf was an assassin, he was the ambusher. He hunted others, not the other way around.

Exhaling a long breath, Shade wiped the blood from the polished surface of his curved blade, before returning it to the scabbard above his tailbone. At least they had managed one quest, but things would not get easier from here. On the contrary, it would get more difficult, and he was forced to grow far more experienced than this. Ambushed by rats. An embarrassing development. “I guess we should take a quick look around, and see if there are any other rats waiting for us,” the boy stated, wiping his forehead. He did not spot any blood from the bite on Guard Lady’s stomach, and could from that deduce a more preferable outcome. It had not gone through her armor. If the group was wearing full plate when venturing into these revolting depths, none of them were at risk of damage, but such a scenario would never play out. Shade was not able to wear armor, and that much was certain. Neither were any of them able to afford the customly hand-made gear.

Seeing how the archer was focusing all of her attention on their front line warrior, Shade turned his attention towards the darkness, but silence reigned. His soundless steps brought him further into the sewers, where he turned towards the other two, “I’ll scout ahead, be back soon,” he stated, before picking up his pace.

After this, he would need a bath, certainly, but with the scent of rat covering him from having that wet, damp and dirty fur on top of the boy rendered him effectively invisible to an enemy nose. A few moments passed, practiced footsteps of a shadow stalker remaining unheard across the wet stone walkways of a sewer system they would all be happy to leave behind. Eventually, after a handful of minutes had passed, Shade returned, having fulfilled one of his primary duties, scouting. “There are several more,” he commented, leaning against the wall with a small huff. Four giant rats were enough, and none would hear any complaints from the boy on that matter. “we're far from done,” Shade explained, listening to the sound of passing sewage. Despite their venue, none could deny that the flow of water was a harmonic and blissful addition, whether over or beneath the surface.

[Xaltwind]

Letting out a sigh of relief as the last of the giant rats bit the dust, Guard Lady got back onto her feet slowly, using her polearm as a maekeshift leverage device. When the archer rushed to her side, asking how she was, the half-elf smiled - though it was a smile of a somber and apologetic nature, rather than one of happiness.

"Ye- Yes, I'm fine, thanks." She answered, feeling a bit frustrated, a bit ashamed and a bit relieved. "I'm sorry I didn't stop them in time." She continued, looking at her feet. "They were a lot faster than I thought, and a lot more... Evasive then I expected." Of course, this was only her really first, actual battle, so mistake were bound to have been made - though this fact did little to comfort the girl.

Moving her free hand to feel around the area where she had been bitten, Guard Lady let ot a puff of air as she found the hole the rat had made in her armor. Luckily, the leather had been strong enough to not be bitten through, but it would require repairs if to remain useful once they left this awful place. It waas somewhat ironic though, the rat had leapt and aimed for her chest, but her ample... Assets had caused the rat do bummp its head in them and instead bite down on her stomach-area - rather than her upper-exposed endowments. Perhaps she should consider buying a chestguard that covered that particular area next time...

The boy with the hood then disappeared for a bit, stating tht he was going scouting. For the duration he was away, Guard Lady kept a vigilant eye on the path behind them, determined to not let any more rodents sneak up on and ambsh them. Still, she had the time for some small talk and couldn't help but want to thank the arhcer properly.

"Thanms again, archer." She said, still peering behind them into the gloomy darkness. "You were really impressive back there. You moved and acted like those big, nasty things were nothing. You even saved my clumbsy butt." She let out a slight, forced laugh at the last part, again feeling somewhat ashamed and useless in the big whole. Both the archer and the boy had managed to take down marks of their own, yet she had been knocked on her ass and had to been saved. Sure, things like that could happen to anyone, but that didn't make her feel any better about botching her job.

When Shade returned and informed the two girls that there were more rats, Guard Lady only nodded. Of course this wasn't the end, they still had to find the nests where the rats bred and destroy them... Well, at least three of them. But where could they be? Rats usually just dug holes in the ground or hid in cramped, dark places... So what did a rat's nest look like? Especially one for giant rodents like these.

Scshshcshscchschsssch...

"Wh- What was that...?" Guard Lady turned her head away from the hooded boy. Something sounded... Strange. Like raspy, scratchy fingernails rapidly scraping across a hard surface. It was different from the skittering of the rats, and sounded far more... numerous? Plentiful? Peering back towards the path behind them, from the faint glow of the lantern on the floor, Guard Lady saw it... The horror.

"Insects!?" She exclaimed in both surprise and alarm. And yes, insects - huge roaches to be exact. Cockroaches the size of regular-sized rats to be even more precise. A vast number of them too, marching in a mass of black, revolting scratching towards the party. But why? Had they heard the noise from the battle? Or did they sense the smell of blood and fresh meat from the dead rats? The reason wasn't really important now, what was important was that there was a horde of giant cockroaches approaching them that numbered more than two dozen. Even if they stayed and fought, insects weren't like animals. They didn't back off or hesitate, they just pushed on and on, forging ahead mercilessly. Even if her halberd took out five in a row, the boy killed several with quick slashes and the archer took some down with her own blade, there would still be more than enough to reach and overwhelm them!

"This is bad! We can't stay here!" The half-elf exclaimed, feelinga shiver run down her spine. But where to go? The path only led in two directions, and according to Shade, there were more rats up ahead. But going back meant running through the black, jumbling army of roaches. What were they to do?! Regardless, Guard Lady took her halbered in both hands and entered into a firm, staunch stance, waiting for the other two of her allies to decide what to do.

[Shard]

Things were not looking up for the group. One hardship after the other struck at them like jackhammers, leaving little room to breathe. This was elevated by the additionally unwelcomed sound of skittering across a hard surface. Insects. Clenching his teeth, Shade looked in the direction of their newly acquired foe and chastised himself for the realization. He did not even begin to expect other monstrous sights within the sewers. Indeed, he had anticipated the unsavory, but nothing like this, and most certainly not more beasts. Had they come across thieves and murderers, the group could perhaps have managed to slay their adversaries through careful maneuvers, but an endless swarm of maggots was powerful not through the force of their strength, but their numbers.

“I have an idea,” Shade stated with a heart pounding against his ribs, “follow me,” the boy finished before he turned around and started in the opposite direction. It soon elevated into a full sprint, where the Dark Elf quite literally ran for his life. Indeed, in a situation such as this, one could find resourceful solutions. “Over here!” Shade exclaimed and turned to the right, before he kept running. The sound of insects chasing them was never smothered, and it simply proceeded to grow ever louder. Whether they were closing in on their prey or adding more to their army of skittering soldiers, one thing was set in stone. Halting a sprint would have led to certain death.

Squeaking soon trickled through the darkness, and Shade turned once again, weaving into another corridor, “we’ll lead the roaches to the rats and let them take each other out!” The assassin exclaimed, looking behind him at the group which had hopefully managed to keep up. By themselves, not one of them would have been able to survive, and this quest grew exponentially more dangerous than initially expected. The rats were far larger than Shade had thought, and with the addition of bloodthirsty cockroaches the size of an actual, large rat, he had one solution up his sleeve, and little else. Run.

However, with tactical approaches still offering themselves to him in the form of ideas, perhaps this would work. Using one enemy against the other had won countless battles in actual warfare. ‘The enemy of my enemy is a weapon’, Shade’s father had said, ‘a true assassin can slay their target using others as puppets, always remember that.’ It was quite common to hear words of wisdom from the old, ancient elf. An assassin who fell their enemy through the use of chess pieces rather than blades, was to be respected, indeed. Though this process required a masterclass in manipulation and foresight, Shade hoped that simply leading one enemy to the other would be enough to outsmart insects and rats.

[The Irish Tree]

The Steppe Archer let out a small chuckle, nervously scratching the back of her hair with her bow-hand. "Ehehe...you really think so? I think I'm just a little good at dealing with beasts from all the time I spent hunting. Glad that you're both okay though," the archer would say, just before Shade would depart to scout ahead. Feeling like the Guard Lady needed at least something to perk her spirits up, Steppe Archer would say: "Don't feel bad! We're all alive and uninjured. So what if a rat managed to knock you over, next time, you'll cut them clean in half!" in an enthusiastic manner, clean hand patting the Guard Lady's back before she stooped to reach for her bow, and return it to her back.

"Now, let's go find those rat nests before-"

Skitter

Steppe Archer froze. Dead in her tracks the archer stood, growing almost as pale as her hair in the dim torchlight provided by Shade. Before any order was even given, Steppe Archer started to retreat, hesitantly stepping back towards Shade as he fled, even being passed up by Guard Lady as she followed. She was dead last, petrified in fear before she let out a bloodcurdling scream as she made a mad dash, swift as a horse and half as graceful as she nearly frothed at the mouth to escape from the insect horde.

Bugs? Bad.

Roaches? Worse.

Giant Bugs? Worst.

Giant Roaches?

Worstest

Yes, it was a point she was mocked for consistently as she was growing up. A woman of the steppe, a proud child of the land and benefactor of its bounty...absolutely loathed insects with a passion, to the point that a tiger was less fearsome in her eyes than a line of red ants.

And here and now, the woman who had been a dervish of steel and arrow against the rats was cowering as she ran between Shade and Guard Lady, fearfully tugging at her bow. "I will LITERALLY fight every single rat in this sewer if it means getting away from these things! But I like your idea. J-Just lead us away from these disgusting little...UGH!" Steppe Archer said, sounding like a total weenie. Where before she had been reliable and competent, the sight of insects had almost made her into a liability...

[Xaltwind]

With the arrival of the bugs, both of her allies seemed to agree that discretion was the better part of valor - which is to say, they fled. A completely acceptable tactic in the face of cockroaches the size of your average sneaker. So in response ton this development, it did not take many moments for Guard Lady to turn about and chase after her two comrades - one of which was screaming like there was no tomorrow - again, understandable.

Unlike her two nimble and agile friends though, the half-elf had to not only lug around her polearm, which wasn't exactly designed to be a weaponn you ran with, in addition to her armor. Now, leather armor didn't weigh particularly much in and of itself, but the many bits and pieces of metal she had added to it on her own accord eventually added up. In addition, she simply wasn't as fast a runner as the other two adventurers, resulting in the culmination of her lagging slightly behind her comrades.

Guard Lady could feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead and her breathing grew hurried and uneven. The constant skittering and crawling of the mass of insects behind her was unnerving and grotesque, to say the least. The hooded boy shouted out his plan to lead the insects into a group of rats, which was fine - provided they could outrun the little monsters long enough.

As they rounded a corner, Guard Lady's eyes widened slightly - she had misstepped and caused herself to become unbalanced. With an 'omph!' and a clattering thud, she collided sideways with one of the sewer walls. Momentariily stopped, she shook her head and began to run anew. Alas, this short litle delay had caused some of their pursuer to have somehow managed to catch up with. With chittering mandibles, the foul things leapt and managed to latch onto her back! At first, she didn't notice due to the adrenaline and frantic situation, but soon enough she realized something was moving along her backside.

"Wha- AAAaAaAh!" She let out a surprised, as well as painful, cry as one of the bugs took a bite on her neck. The sensation was not dissimilar to someone pinching your skin - hard - between two long, sharp nails - but without letting go. Using the hand not holding her weapon, she swatted at the creature and managed to knock it off her shoulder, but alas others still remained on her body. One crawled lower and took a nice chomp at her posterior, while the other tried to crawl over her shoulder to get at her upper exposed chest.

Their legs felt like tiny needles whenever they touched the skin and their bites were horrible. Again the girl swatted at the one on her shoulder first, followed by one assaulting her romp. Now free of the trio that had managed to latch onto her, Guard Lady did everything in her power to keep pace with the two friends in front, hoping that Shade's plan would work out well. The two bites on her did sting quite a lot though...

[Shard]

‘Leave them both behind,’ was a voice trickling through Shade’s mind. It had taken the shape of his father’s, which ever-so often managed its way into the boy’s thoughts. One of the girls allowed her fear of bugs to draw her a scared child in this scenario, and the other could only barely keep up. ‘Everyone is a resource, and no one is consistently useful,’ the voice continued, clawing at the Dark Elf’s consciousness. He was ready to draw his blade and assist the armored halberdier, but aid was scarcely required once she had managed to rid herself of the filthy attackers. “Over here!” Shade exclaimed, leaping onto a heightened ledge. With one foot on the wall as the boy jumped, his hands reached for the ledge, before a weightless form made its way to safety.

Turning around, Shade dropped his hand down to the others, most notably the halberdier, in an attempt to assist her. The heightened ledge would keep them safe, if only for a short moment, with squeaking and chittering sounds crashing together into a chorus of chaos. His plan had worked, for now. Looking beyond the others, Shade noticed how rats and cockroaches had singled each other out, and showed no mercy in what was to come.

Pincers and teeth fought for supremacy, strength combating the pure power of numbers. Scouting ahead had given Shade a better outlook of what they could use, and tactical decisions were far easier to make with knowledge of their surroundings. Had he not ventured out to learn of these sewers beforehand, he would have had no understanding of this escape route.

Hard carapaces and cockroach shells could be heard breaking beneath the weight of a heavy rat bite, but an onlooker would have been able to deduce that numbers were coloring themselves victorious. No matter how dangerous the rats had been up until his point, those insects warranted another layer of fear. It surprised Shade to no end that these foul, vicious beasts had been left out of the quest briefing. They were arguably more dangerous than the prey the group had ventured into the sewers for, to begin with.

“We should be able to catch a breather,” Shade spoke, gulping before he fell down to his backside, and leaned against the wall. Their savior had been an elevated alcove, a ledge where they could regain their strength and rest, but it would not bring them further. A temporary sanctuary, and at the very least, neither cockroaches nor rats could reach them there. They were also at an advantage with the high ground. The guard’s long weapon could easily reach down towards the floor and attack whatever unwelcomed guest made itself known.

“Are you okay?” Shade continued, as he shifted his attention to Guard Lady, concern making its way towards his black eyes obfuscated by both a hood, and the surrounding darkness. “We should take a second to rest,” the Dark Elf spoke, turning to the war of wretches which maintained itself beneath them.

[The Irish Tree]

As soon as Guard Lady let out a cry of pain, Steppe Archer stopped and turned around, cringing at the sight of her getting bitten by a few of the roaches. Roaches were disease carrying virmin, true, but at least their teeth weren't sufficient in small numbers to tear apart a healthy human. She hoped. At worst, maybe they'd just have to clean the little bug bites and use some alcohol in order to cleanse them. But stil, EW! BUGS!

Shade's plan was brilliant, and as Steppe Archer leapt up onto the ledge, she slumped against the wall and sank to her knees, drawing her bow with trembling hands. If the rats did indeed win, she could snipe a few before they got close. But the momentum of the fight was going with the roaches, numbers overpowering raw strength. If it weren't so disgusting, the lesson at hand may very well be humbling. After all, humans had more might than rats, but the rats were in the position of the roaches when facing adventurers. The many versus the few. Where humans had the advantage against anything however was in tactics, planning, and coordination. Shade had used that to ensure that a rout was possible. Heck, if possible, this strategy might keep working. After all, roaches didn't care WHAT they ate, and the rats were territorial. In the end, this way they could secure two victories in one!

Looking to the halberdier once she was with safely on the ledge, she would ask: "H-How are you feeling? Those bites didn't break the skin, did they?" she asked, taking a peek at the bites. "If they hurt, I can make you a small painkiller with those plant branches."

[Xaltwind]

Luck was seemingly on the trio's side today. As they passed by a bunch of the giant, hissing rodents, the big vermin quickly noticed the vast approaching horde of lesser vermin, and decided to defend their part of the filthy sewers with all their might. A skirmish between fur, fangs, chitin and mandibles broke out - not too different from an actual war between soldiers... Albeit, far more unsanitary and ferocious. Regardless, with the beasts and bugs pre-occupied with biting each other to deaht, the party had managed to secure some form of respite - for now.

Guard Lady grabbed the extended hand of Shade, and with a bit of crawling and scraping, she managed to get onto the ledge with the other two. Sitting on her knees, leaning forward and panting from both exhaustion, slight pain and sheer relief, it took a while for the girl to respond to the querries of her allies. Looking up at each of them in turn, she forced a brave smile.

"I'm fine, it stings a bit, but I'm alright."

In truth though, since they had left the lantern behind, she couldn't exactly tell if the injuries were bad or not. With gloved hands, she couldn't very well feel if there was any blood or not, and honestly she didn't want to touch the areas that stung either. Just remembering the sensation of having the creepy crawlies skittering around on her body was enough to give her goosebumps, and the sting from their bite made the hair on her neck stand up. The offer of a salve or ointment or whatever was tempting, but the pain wasn't bad enough to warrant such measures just yet.

"I don't think I'll need any soothing, the bites sting, but it's not so bad I can't deal with it." She explained, slumping down on the side of her legs to rest. She couldn't raelly sit on her behind, given one of the stinging areas were there.

Still, they were now in both a good and a bad position. The good news were that they could reasonably easy defend this alcove from whoever won the battle below, but the bad news were that whoever did win was either going to call reinforcements to feed on the dead and defeated, or would begin a siege of the plateau. Well, that was the worst case scenario at least. Without the oil lantern, seeing had become a lot harder and Guard Lady cursed under her breath for leaving it behind - that thing had cost her last coins after all.

"Say..." She started, a thought in her head coming to light. "Do you two know what a rat's nest looks like? I've never seen one myself" She paused. "... And how do we destroy one? Are they flimsy enough to that I can smash them apart with my halberd?" Her question was fair, to an extent, without the lamp they really had no other option than to bash, slash, stab and kick any nest they found until it crumbled. If they had brought the lantern, they could have poured some lamp oil on the nests and then burnt them down, but unless they went back for their abandoned light-source now, that was a lost option.

The gnashing, gnawing, screeching and crunching continued below - albeit it was slowly dying down in intensity... At most, they had a few more minutes.

[Shard]

Shaking his head, Shade gently hugged his legs before resting his chin against a pair of kneecaps. This was his first time hunting rats, and the archer at their side likely knew far more of the enemy they were facing. She was well versed in the manner of beasts, where Shade’s main focus lingered on the nature of man. Sentient creatures were his forté, those of a higher intellect. Indeed, vermin had an advantage over the boy. They could not be tricked in the same way, and their deduction of a situation was unpredictable for an assassin such as himself. “I’ve never seen a nest before now,” Shade explained, his pointed ears listening to the war playing out only a few feet from where they were. “I guess burning them would be the best course of action, but, well..,” the Dark Elf sighed.

Perhaps one could cause a fire without convenient equipment? “We could always rub two rocks together,” came a soft chuckle, an attempt at humor in a desperate situation. “I think I saw one of the nests when I went looking, the other two will need more searching.” The group had found themselves in a big sewer system. The few minutes Shade spent on scouting was not nearly enough to evaluate the entire underground. However, he might have come across one nest, but was not entirely certain of what he had seen. Shade did, after all, not know what a nest looked like.

“I’m ready to go, when you two feel rested enough,” the boy added, gently releasing his legs from an embrace. He slowly moved towards the edge, and proceeded to squint at the beasts still at war with one another. “They’re almost done, we could use this chance to sneak by, while they’re still occupied.”

[The Irish Tree]

Well, at least Guard Lady wasn't in need of immediate medical attention. It wasn't bad, as she'd expected. Having seen her get bitten in the neck before the light faded, Guard Lady would touch her uncovered fingers to where she'd seen her get bitten, to check for any bleeding or swelling. Once she confirmed that Guard Lady at least wasn't bleeding out of an artery, she offered her a smile in the dark. "You'll be fine. Even if there's nothing wrong by the end of this, I promise I'll buy you a curative."

A wave of unease fell over Steppe Archer as she finally noticed that their light source was gone. That was...beyond bad. Shade seemed perfectly okay in the darkness, but the two of them would take some time to even adjust enough to see the faint outlines of objects in this lighting. Hearing his idea of banging two rocks together, Steppe Archer hummed. They might be able to make a torch if they had a decent enough piece of wood, and some animal fat. That way they wouldn't even need the lamp. But...well...that'd require enough time to make tallow from the rats while they were on the run. Skilled at animal dissection as Steppe Archer was, there just wasn't enough time. At hearing their confusion over what a Rat's Nest actually was, Steppe Archer shook her head slightly. "No...a Rat's nest isn't like a beehive or anything. its basically just wherever there's a gigantic horde of rats in a big pile. They might make something simple out of some bones though, but rats aren't very good builders," she explained, experienced in having to drive normal rats out of their temporary settlements. Without a proper flooring, it was simple for rodents to just slip under their tents and find their pantries. It was why they often carried many vermin-hunting animals with them.

Taking a moment to think, and looking back on the horde of rats as the cockroaches claimed victory, Steppe Archer nodded. "We need to move fast. If making a fire isn't an option, then we'll just have to count on your eyes. I can hear most things coming up. But we have to be careful fighting in the dark...we're more likely to cut each other up if we don't work together." As she pondered more and more on what to do, she eventually came on an idea. "...Wait, why don't we just...go back, get the lantern, and go the other way down the sewers? We only have to destroy three nests of...Shaper knows how many. Ooh, or we can set a lot of traps outside their nests!" Steppe Archer said, trying her best to make retreat sound about as pleasant as possible. Even if it meant more fighting, it at least meant fighting with the light present. "Oooooor, maybe we can lead the cockroaches to a nest and try to get them to fight. But...I'd think the nests would only have one way in."

[Xaltwind]

After thanking the archer for both checking up on her and offering to buy her some sort of curative, Guard Lady let out a breath she didn't even know she'd been holding in. The brief moment of rest on the alcove gave pause to recover from the sudden, mad dash they had had to perform to avoid the swarm. Albeit, both sides had suffered great losses in the fighting, the rats were now less than a handful and the roaches still more than a dozen and a half. Of course, she couldnät actually see this, due to the dark, but it was something the dark elf-in-disguise would have noticed doubtlessly.

After hearing Shade's remark about them leaving once ready, and then the archer's explanation of what a nest actually was, the halberdier frowned a bit. If a 'nest' was just a large gathering of rats, then wouldn't it have been more accurate for the quest to specify a certain number of rats needing to be killed? Or at least denote the 'nests' as 'hordes' or 'packs' or some kind of numeric value, rather than as some sort of dwelling? She didn't like how whoever had posted that quest had - even if not intentionally - mislead them. She would make sure to have a choice few words with the guild staff once they got out of here.

Now was not the time for belly-aching though! With the battle below drawing ever closer to an end, their window of opportunity was closing ever tighter. When the archer mentioned doubling back for their lamp though, the girl lit up. That was right! Even if the swarm of roaches had come from that direction, there was no way the entire pathway back was filled with them - after all, if that had been the case then the roaches would have had an endless supply of reinforcements and won the battle instantly. But given the time it had taken for the two sides to duke it out, it would seem that this was just a lone, large group of insects.

"I think that's a good idea." She said, nodding to the foreign girl. "I can see well enough in dim light, but pitch black darkness is another thing entirely." Her head shook slightly. "The old guy who sold me that thing really gouged me on the price too, so I'd rather not leave it behind..." She jested, smiling sheepishly, as if that half-rusted piece of metal and cheap glass was worth risking one's life over.

Using her polearm to get back onto her feet, she gently tapped at the nape of her neck, then patted at her bottom. It still stung. Of course it did, no way fresh bug-bites would stop aching this fast. Sighing, she moved over to the ledge and knelt down on one leg, then with a big, swinging motion, let her halberd sweep at the base of their elevation, preemptively cutting away any would-be threats lurking just below. No sounds were heard though, so it seemed clear enough.

"Should we go then?" She asked, looking at her comrades in the dark.

Over a ways away, the bugs were now busying themselves with finishing off the last stragglers of the mammals. Lumps of brown-gray fur with steams of blood and broken, shattered bits and pieces of insect lay scattered in an unssemly display of gore and carnage. It was like a morbid painting of some secret, nightmarish war. Still, if the roaches were too busy eating the dead rats - and their own fallen - then it gave the group the advantage to get by, either further into the sewer, or back towards their missing lamp.

[Shard]

Taking a moment to breathe, Shade managed a soft sigh. This mission had not gone smoothly, in the slightest. They were all alive, and more or less well, but this was not an outcome he could have hoped for. “Heading back for the lamp is probably our best bet,” the assassin commented. He proceeded to slip down the alcove, and landed weightlessly on his feet before a slender hand moved towards the blade at his back. “I’ll take us back there, come on,” the boy commented, looking towards the heightened ledge, “we just need to be quiet, and careful.”

Despite their numbers having been lowered, the cockroaches were a they would gain nothing from. These monstrosities were not a part of any quest, and they were incredibly dangerous. With quiet steps, Shade continued through the sewers, his hand gently grasping his blade in case of another ambush, or attack. Even though his eyes felt at home in this darkness, he could not consider anything else a source of comfort, with a stench rivaled only by the aggression of sewer company.

It felt like a longer stride indeed, considering how the last time they had come this way, the group had been running. However, no matter the handful of minutes Shade spent trodding through a moist and wet stone walkway, he would eventually see a dim light in the distance. It was their lantern. “There,” came a soft whisper from the young Dark Elf, who continued to quietly move forward, his silhouette now making itself known due to the light.

Upon approaching their savior, Shade extended his hands and carefully wrapped his fingers around the lantern’s handle. The others could see now, even if the light had managed to harm his own sight, but a small margin. “I guess that large gathering of rats up north that I saw, was a nest, then,” Shade commented, thumbing over his shoulder. “It’s easy to fine, just follow this walkway,” he continued, motioning towards the stone beneath their feet, and made room for Guard Lady to walk past him.

[Xaltwind]

Sliding down from the ledge, the young woman touched back down onto the sewer floor proper once again. The sound of tearing and crunching could be heard just some few feet away, and it made Guard Lady shudder. It was like some morbid, hellish chorus of the grotesque, a sound that you should never ever have to hear if you lived a normal life... Alas, going into sewers to slay overgrown rodents was anything but normal, and so this was one of the tolls one had to pay. Shaking the thought from her head, she began to move.

With cautious, yet hastened steps, the armored girl did her best to walk both quietly and briskly. Lingering too long near the feeding roaches would surely invite their attention. Beads of sweat rolled down her forehead as she passed by, holding her breath tightly, afraid to make even the slightest squeak. Sadly, her armor wasn't as quiet as Shade's clothes, but thanks to the feast's noises, she still managed to slip by unheard and unseen.

The walk back to where they had been was long. Far longer than she had remembered. Then again, they had been running at full speed when coming this way, so it was only natural that a trek at an average pace would feel far more elongated. The girl found herself constantly throwing a glance back over her shoulder, peering with narrowed eyes into the murky darkness... Not that she could see much, but she wouldn't let any foul bug sneak up on them. The pain in her neck and butt-bites still lingered though, and in fact it seemed to have gotten a bit worse the past few minutes, though that could simply be due to her moving about and upsetting the injured areas - so for now, toughing it out was the best option.

After a bit, she could finally see the faint glow in the distance. A welcome, warm light like a hearth on a cold, dark autumn day. She couldn't help but smile to herself, at least something had gone their way. After hearing the hooded boy's comment about a potential nest being located northward, she nodded and stepped past him as he had moved aside. Taking point and keeping the other safe was her job after all!

"Hey, archer." She said, turning slightly on her head to look back. "How many arrows do you have left? I know you took down a few rats earlier, but did you manage to recover those arrows?" This was asked mostly because they were now at the location where they had been ambushed before, and if the roaches hadn't gobbled up both the rat carcasses and the arrows ldged in said corpses, then perhaps the foreign girl could reclaim them? After all, arrows cost money and any expenses they could mitigate would benefit everyone in the long run... Maybe.

She turned back to looking forward, steeled herself and began to move at an agreeable pace, halberd held at the ready in case of unwanted visitors.

"We should probably try to hurry, but not rush. I'm pretty sure that those big bugs weren't the only swarm of their kind down here." he halberdier frowned in a displeased grimace. She really didn't want to run into more of those things.

[The Irish Tree]

Steppe Archer, upon hearing that Guard Lady was gouged on the price of the lamp, felt extremely bad at having let her new friend go alone. Nobody should just be able to do that because a buxom beauty buys a bobble! That's just rude. Rolling up the sleeves of her tabard, Steppe Archer said: "I feel like we should give that merchant a piece of our mind...later though.

Following Shade's trusty Darkvision, Steppe Archer would remain close to her two companions as they journeyed backwards, the lamp soon coming into sight from the dull, still burning light. It seemed that it had either eaten up most of the current oil, or the fall had made it dislodge the oil or...something. In truth, Steppe Archer had no idea how such a thing worked. She'd only ever had the light of torches and campfires at night to keep her vision free of blackness. At being directly called to, Steppe Archer turned to her halbardier companion and, at her question, gently ran a hand through the quiver at her hip. She thankfully had only lost one or two arrows in their flight, no doubt trampled underfoot, but her current count was at eighteen. Smiling at the Guard Lady's suggestion to reclaim the arrows, she would nod and draw her knife. "Good idea...I'd almost forgotten. Waste not, want not~" she would say, searching the ground for evidence of her arrows. Thankfully, the roaches weren't exactly heavy enough to crush it underfoot, and weren't quite dumb enough to eat metal and a stone that was only lightly stuck into a rat's head. If anything, maybe they ate around them to avoid danger. Regardless, two more arrows in-quiver rounded her out to 20 shots.

Now that they had lamplight and Guard Lady was ahead of her, Steppe Archer would finally get a good look at the bites on her neck, inspecting it to make sure it wasn't like, green with poison or anything. Gently brushing Guard Lady's hair to the side with a gloved (mostly) clean hand, she would inspect the bite wound.

[Xaltwind]

The trio advanced through the northern corridors of the sewers, heading northwards. The path was very straight-forward, with only a few sharp turns here and there. There were plenty of wall-grates from which the yellowish brown fluids of waste poured into the canal beside them, but there didn't seem to be side-paths or off-shoot paths - which made sense, considering Palisade Town was a rather new settlement and hadn't been around for too long, meaning the sewers hadn't needed to be expanded or reconstructed yet.

As they walked though, Steppe Archer would find that the bite marks on Guard Lady's neck, and butt, were looking rather red and irritated. There seemed to be tiny holes as well, but there wasn't any blood seeping out or trailing from either... Though that could also be due to them having moved around and it haven been shaken off or wiped away by movement or while sitting back at the alcove.

Still though, the marks looked anything but healthy, and appeared to be quite painful... Which they were, but Guard Lady was either ignoring the stinging sensation, or was too focused on her job as point-man to think about them right now. Still, as they approached what looked like a larger, arched opening in the corridor, the halberd-wielder stopped and raised her hand.

"Wait..." She said, cautious in her one.

Squeeeaaak!

A long screechy squeak, followed by many much lighter or softer squeaks. It was like a bustling marketplace ahead, with many voices chippering and chirping in each others mouths. Motioning for the boy to move back a bit, so as to not let their light give them away, Guard Lady carefully stepped forward and poked half her head around the edge of the large archway. There she a room. A very large room, with small walkways and and circular, wall-clinging path that surrounded a large mass of sewage in the very center of the room... A cistern, perhaps?

In addition, there were a lot of rats. Not just giant ones though, but either regular sized ones, or the offspring of the giant grown ups. This must have eben one of the nests mentioned in their quest. Retreating back to her group, Guard Lady cast a glance behind her, before speaking again.

"There's a lot of them in there... Big and smaller ones. Lots of small, elevated walkways and a lot of... liquid... in the middle of the room." She paused, placing a hand on her chin in thought. "What do we do? The archway entrance is a bit too wide for me to cover it all, and if we attack from afar, they might scatter and flee into other tunnels and paths on the other side."

[The Irish Tree]

Steppe Archer winced as she saw how painful the bites looked. Guard Lady really was tough if she was trudging around while acting like she was perfectly fine. Still, she hoped that they wouldn't become infected by anything down here. After all, filth and disease bred in sewers...but so long as she didn't expose them to raw sewage, it was doubtful that she'd contract anything after giving them a clean wash and chugging down an antidote.

At Guard Lady's signal to stop, as well as the loud squeaking, Steppe Archer's footsteps came to a halt as she drew a hand towards her blade. There were so many...and they had to kill three of these nests!? Various thoughts crossed Steppe Archer's mind, namely that this was...far too much for novices. They'd have had an easier time cleaning out the ditch, at this rate...but, now, another thought made its way into her. As she cast a glance from the lamp to the rats, an idea brewed in her head. "We can use fire to take them out. It'll um...stink. Really bad. But if I can shoot an arrow covered in cloth and oil and fire, then the fire'll spread fast with all that fur and...poop," the archer suggested, still trying to think of other side plans.

"We could also try and lure more roaches this way. But...I doubt that'd work unless we got every single roach in here to attack. Worst comes to worst though, we could cut our losses and leave."

[Xaltwind]

After listening to the archer's idea, Guard Lady put her balled fist to her own chin. It was indeed a much safer bet to try and burn the rats and not engage a massive group like this with only three people - but at the same time, wasn't that very risky? They'd already plugged their noses with branches, well herself and Steppe Archer - the boy had not done so - and if things were on fire, wouldn't that cause smoke or something that could it dangerous to breathe? Guard Lady wasn't very knowledgeable about things like this, but she knew that if you stood near a campfire for too long and breathed the smoke, it was bad for you.

"Could be dangerous." The boy suddenly said, having been quiet for a long while now. The halberdier's head swivelled to look at him surprised. "Fire could spread in ways we don't want. Rats would get spooked too, flee in every direction" He added.
"But there's no way we can take on that many with just us." The young womn stated.
"Agreed. We should pull back to the surface." The hooded one confirmed the archer's suggestion about leaving.

Honestly, it was there best choice. The Guild, or the one who had made this request, had woefully underestimaed both the danger and the sheer difficulty of this quest. There was no way a single group of freshly-out-of-the-oven adventurers could handle this! Maybe if they had a mage or other spellcaasters who could take out large swathes of enemies at once, or at least put them to sleep or soemthing. But with their compisation as it was, there wasn't any safe way for them to handle this task. As such, Guard Lady let out a sigh and nodded.

"I think that's for the best too. My carelessness also left me less useful in a scuffle now... I'm sorry, I'll be more careful next time." She said, giving a sheepish, apologetic smile to her two allies.

Still, now they had to trek all the way back to the manhole they had entered though. Since it was unlikely their hooded friend could pick a lock from inside the actual sewer, and upside-down no less... But the coast had been clear last time they were there, so surely it was just a bit of walking and they'd be safely on the surface again.

... And in dire need of baths and clothes-washing...