Colin's posts

A few seconds after she had stepped into village, a pair of elves approached. They were clad in hide armour, and wielded long spears. They crossed them in such a way to bar her path, and looked at her.

"..." they looked like they were about to say something, before one of them looked to have a flash of... recognition? Perhaps?

He turned and whispered something to his comrade, and they shared a brief interaction that she couldn't hear, before they uncrossed their spears.

"...enter." one of them said.

"The healer is in the hut with the darker roof." they said further.

They then stepped aside, and looked like they would not interact with her further, even if she tried.

Just as she finished binding his head, the lump in the ice started to shake and rattle. Violently. It almost threatened to break out of the ice, but from what she saw... it looked to just... dissipate. Which was to say, it looked like it went from a solid straight to a gas, and looked like it was slowly petering out and disappearing into nothingness. Whether that was from being removed from the water, or encased in her ice, she couldn't rightly say.

However, she did notice that the blackness that surrounded them seemed to just outright disappear.

Or, rather, she watched it shift into a thick fog. It still obscured her vision considerably, but the fog seemed more... natural. More benign.

And she noticed that the rain seemed to to have stopped, probably while the two of them were underground.

Adym was still breathing, though it was a bit erratic... and he was still bleeding from his head wound.

And he was still unconscious.

The mass that she encased in ice seemed to be just as it was... though from what she could tell, the corruption wasn't spreading out from it. If nothing else, she had it contained at the very least.

That's when she felt the rumblings of the earth under her. It was slight... but it still felt like there was a minor earthquake happening.

Nothing came of it, though, but the water in the fountain started to clear. A little. It now looked a slightly less dark shade of grey.

But she still needed to worry about Adym. And the corrupting hunk she had encased with her.

As she reached down to try and grab the lump, she felt active resistance. Like some force was pushing her back. On top of that, the cold water that she was in felt like it was actively stinging at her nerves now... which was strange.

Wouldn't she be near-immune to cold?

However, she was still able to make headway, and when she grabbed it, and tried to lift it, it was surprisingly light. It was obviously heavy enough to sink in the water, but it was no significant task to pick it up.

However, when she touched it, it seemed like it hurt her.

Paradoxically, even though the water was icy cold, the object was hot. Extremely hot. As though she would be trying to lift a fresh molten rock.

When she got closer to the fountain, she could practically smell the corruption in it, and if she were to liken it to anything, it would mostly likely be festering meat. It was not pleasant.

However, she also noticed that the water was not actually black. It was more a very dark grey... to the point of almost being back, but the water itself was still vaguely translucent. She could see into it, and visually scan with her eyes.

It was then that she noticed 2 things.

The first was that the water was... deeper than she would have anticipated. It looked like she could step into it, and the water would be up to her waist... on the bottom tier, anyway. The levels that were higher were clearly more shallow, so the fountain itself was probably built INTO the ground. The second was that she noticed a straight black... lump... at the bottom of the lowest basin. It looked about the size of 2 bricks, and the water around it seemed to be... particularly nasty, in terms of smell.

Was THIS what was tainting everything? This one little... object?

As she and Adym rose through the tunnel, she looked down and saw that an egg had come out of the guardian, and it looked... off. It was as though the corruption was still clinging to it...

But the egg disappeared from sight as they rose up into the tunnel, and exited the chamber.

And as soon as they did, she saw a fountain. A large stone, overgrown fountain.

And the water in it was... black. It looked disgusting.

Was this what the guardian had been gesturing to?

Was this the source of the corruption?

When she looked, she saw that it had mostly been pointing to the tunnel that it most likely used when it left its chamber... Adym had said that it wouldn't be a good idea to jump down it.

...but she DID have a way UP it.

Also, it had been pointing off to the side... was there something up there it wanted them to see?

Regardless, the only quick way out would be for them to rise through the tunnel, and see what it was the guardian was trying to say.

And at that point, she watched as the smaller spiders all started to cry out, and roll over on their backs, as, one by one, they all keeled over and died, their life-forces tied to the guardian's.

And then... it seemed like there was a smidgen of... something... left in the guardian, as its body let loose one more shudder, and she heard something... pop... from behind it, as though it had released something.

The large arachnid seemed to understand her, and when the twin arrows went flying, it opened its gaping maw, and she saw horrifying teeth and fangs inside. The arrows disappeared into the blackness of its mouth, before she heard a sickening sound of the arrows hitting... something.

Then the guardian collapsed.

Utterly and outright.

As it did, the hoards of smaller spiders cried out in a cacophony of screeches and high-pitched noises, seemingly grieving for their guardian's death.

However, before she saw the life leave the one eye it had left, the guardian lifted one of its legs, and extended it outwards... as though it were pointing in a direction.

Up. Up and over a little.

Then, it collapsed and finally died... its entire body going limp.

The guardian managed to right itself from its thrashing, and then just started to charge right towards Callie and Adym. However, just as Callie was ready to let loose with an arrow, she noticed that it was slowing down.

Was it from the cold? Or something else?

It then just slowed right to a stop, as it towered above them and looked down at the two of them in silence.

Then, without warning, it slowly bent its legs and brought itself down to its stomach, its one good eye looking right at Callie.

Even though Callie wasn't the Nature Crux, she could tell it was trying to tell her something;

"Help me..."

She managed to make it over towards Adym before any of the spiders could get close, and the guardian was thrashing about... and Adym did NOT look to be in the best of shapes.

He'd landed pretty awkwardly, and that was shown in his shoulder, and head.

His right arm was pretty limp from the shoulder down, so it was easy to guess he'd either broken it or dislocated it... or both. And he was bleeding from his head, meaning there was a split under his hair somewhere.

And he wasn't responding to Callie at all. He was still breathing, but he wasn't responding to her, meaning he was obviously unconscious.

That's when a second group of smaller spiders launched themselves towards her... with one of them sneaking up behind her.

Adym noticed this, and growled slightly.

It was now, or never.

He got his balance again, and leaped from the platform, flying towards the guardian's head. As he did, he notched his bow, and fired an arrow. And another. And another. He launched a barrage of them at the guardian's head, but its thrashing caused difficulties aiming.

However, of the 8 arrows he fired, 5 hit one of the guardian's eyes, and the rest hit between the eyes, causing it to recoil and scream out once more, its bellow causing the area to practically vibrate.

This caused the smaller spiders to stop and look back at the larger spider, as though checking to see if it was okay.

"W-woah!" Adym exclaimed, as he felt himself leave the ground, the platform rising up with him on it. He struggled to maintain his balance, but managed to get to his feet.

"...." he was silent and looked around, seeing he had a hell of a good vantage point now.

"Holy cow..." he mumbled.

'Her ice manipulation is... amazing.' he thought, before shaking his head and concentrating.

"I'm good!" he called to her.

"Got my balance!"

"Hmmm." Adym mumbled.

"That could be useful, yes." he said, as more spiders started to swarm towards them.

"If you can do that while dealing with these swarms, anyway." he mumbled.

"If you get bit by one, it WON'T be good." he warned her.

Before she could say anything, the guardian launched another attack with one of its legs, and they jumped out of the way, barely dodging the attack.

She had to admit, the thing was a LOT quicker than its size made it seem.

"I don't know!" Adym replied, as the guardian let out another loud screech, and one of the smaller spiders leapt towards Callie.

The elf took aim at the spider, and let loose with an arrow, connecting and sending it flying back, pinning it to the wall, as the arrow embedded itself in one of the cracks there.

He then sighed, and looked at her.

"If I can get close to its head, I should be able to kill it." he told her.

"Well... maybe." he mumbled.

"The best way to do it would be to crush its head, or hit a vital spot on its head." he continued.

"Otherwise, it's minimal damage."