Return of the Runebound Professor

“So… are we jumping into the holes?” Lee asked.

That’s actually a good question. I’m not so sure jumping straight into the monster dens is the wisest move.

Noah sent a glance in Moxie’s direction. “I don’t suppose you have a strategy for this? I had an Imbuement that let me sense vibrations in the ground, but I lost it when I upgraded my Runes and I’ve still yet to figure out a way to replace it.”

“That would have been useful. And yes, I’ve got a few ideas on how to get monsters out. The most tempting one would be to just use your magic to fill the caves with smoke, but that would probably end up summoning something bigger than we can handle. We don’t want to summon every monster in the area.”

“So what do we do, then?” Lee asked.

In response, Moxie held a hand out. A long vine wound out from her sleeve, curling on the ground at her feet. Its pointed tip rose up, and Moxie pulled a large piece of dried meat from her travel bag. She handed it to the vine, which wound around it twice and then slithered into the hole.

“You’re going fishing?” Noah asked, bursting into laughter. “I have to admit that, of all the things I thought you’d do, this wasn’t one of them.”

“Hey, it works. I’ve seen other people do the exact same thing. You just have to hope that the thing that bites is worth the effort. It’s called Baiting, and there’s actually a yearly competition for it in Dawnforge. It’s quite a sport.”

“I didn’t take you for a fishing connoisseur,” Noah said, raising his hands apologetically. “How do they judge the winner? By the size of the monster they pull up?”

“By how strong the monster is, and if the Baiter actually survives the encounter. You lose a few points if you get killed.”

Noah opened his mouth, then closed it again. Moxie sounded completely serious. His eyes narrowed and he studied her for a second. “Do dead people win a lot?”

“It happens occasionally. Like last year, and three years before that.”

“You’re… you’re actually into this, aren’t you?” Noah asked, realizing that Moxie wasn’t actually tugging his leg.

“Yeah. It’s interesting,” Moxie replied with a shrug. “I didn’t get much option to get entertainment, and the Torrins often came to Dawnforge to see if anything interesting had shown up on the markets. I occasionally got to go with them.”

“Huh. You’re basically an expert on the city, then?”

“I wouldn’t go that far, but I’ve been around it a little.” Moxie gave the vine a slight tug, closing her eyes in concentration. She wound it around her wrist a few times to make sure her hold was good, then let her grip slack. The vine continued to wind deeper into the hole.

Lee eyed the vine, and Noah could see the temptation to give it a tug herself flash through her eyes. She glanced up, first looking to Moxie and then Noah. The mischievous look on her face faded and she crossed her arms behind her back.

Didn’t expect that. I kind of wanted to see what would happen, to be honest. Not telling either of them that, though.

A tiny flicker of purplish-red light flickered within the hole, making Noah do a double take. He’d seen that particular color before, but as he tried to figure out where, Moxie clamped down on the vine and gave it a sharp tug. It vine didn’t budge. She opened her mouth to speak, likely to voice confusion, but she didn’t get a chance.

The vine snapped taut in an instant, yanking Moxie off her feet. The ground around the hole crumbled in an instant as a roar echoed out from beneath them, even as Moxie hurtled toward the hole.

She’d wound the vine around her hands enough that it would take a second to free herself – and by that time, she’d be underground. Noah lunged, grabbing onto one of Moxie’s legs with plans of holding her down.

Instead, he was picked up together with her. The two of them vanished beneath the ground in a split instant, hurtling through the darkness at an incredibly concerning rate. If they hit anything at this speed – well, Moxie wouldn’t be coming back from it.

Noah pulled himself up, wrapping one of his arms around Moxie’s waist as he summoned Natural Disaster’s energy. He summoned a powerful, churning wall of wind before them. It ripped the vine to pieces and they both fell into it.

The wind buffeted them and Noah dismissed the energy before it cut them apart as well, instead opting to form another burst of wind below their feet. It slowed their fall even further, but they still dropped another ten heart-wrenching feet before landing on the ground with grunts.

Darkness loomed in every direction, swirling like a sea of ink. The faint light that came in from the holes in the ceiling wasn’t anywhere near enough to illuminate the pit they’d fallen into.

“You okay?” Noah asked, his voice a hushed whisper.

“Yeah. Thanks,” Moxie replied. “There isn’t supposed to be anything that big around here. What in the Damned Plains grabbed the vine?”

Noah fumbled in his bag. His fingers found the hilt of his pipe and he snagged a pinch of Flashgrass from the pouch beside it, stuffing the pipe and placing it in his teeth. He combusted the grass, then grabbed the glowing embers as they started to rise up and sent them out in a wide ring to illuminate their surroundings.

Black, rotting foliage surrounded them. It was so far gone that it looked like mushy sludge, and the only thing that even told Noah it had once been alive were the withered leaves drooping from the walls.

A droplet of thick, tarry liquid dripped from the remains of a withered tree, splattering to the ground near them. Almost as if it had been waiting for Noah to reveal it, a vile stench suddenly slammed into Noah’s nostrils.

He’d seen a lot of things since arriving at Arbitage – and he’d smelled them too. But nothing had ever been anything like this.

Bile built in the back of Noah’s throat. His eyes burned and he just barely managed to repress the urge to dry heave. Moxie looked around in undisguised horror and disgust.

“What is this vile place?” Moxie rasped. “There’s no way it smelled this bad a second ago.”

“No idea, but we need to get out of here. Give me a second to get on my flying–”

The light coming in from the holes above them vanished. Noah’s blood ran cold. He blew out a puff off ember-filled smoke, trying to cast more light around them. All it revealed was more rotted wood and desecrated ground.

“What in the Damned Plains is this?” Moxie asked, pinching her nose shut with a hand. She instinctively took a step closer to Noah, who did the same. They pressed their backs against each other, scanning the darkness.

“I don’t know, but I don’t imagine it’s friendly. Did you feel where your vine went?”

“No. It was so fast that I didn’t get a chance. I’ve never felt strength like that.”

“Maybe–”

A black vine whipped out from the darkness, splattering against Noah’s leg before he could react. He let out a curse as it tightened in a split instant, yanking him off his feet. His back hit the wet ground and he let out a pained grunt. Moxie snapped her fingers and one of her own vines shot out, carving through the black tendril.

It let out a hissing squeal and retreated into the darkness. Another one of Moxie’s vines wound around Noah’s chest, beneath his armpits, and yanked him up. Moxie steadied Noah as he stumbled against her.

“Thanks,” Noah said, shaking his leg off and glaring into the shadows. “That thing is fast.”

“Yeah. I noticed,” Moxie said, looking out in the other direction. Noah could feel the tension in her body through the stiffness of her back. “We need to get out of here. This is a terrible spot to fight.”

“We can try to just get on my sword and fly away. The ceiling didn’t look too thick, so I could probably blow it up with a strong enough blast.”

“That’s the best strategy. I think we’re in some form of magical darkness. Just don’t let your–”

The ground beneath them bucked. Noah grabbed onto Moxie and launched both of them into the air with a blast of violent air. No sooner than they’d left the floor did it bend inward on itself like the maw of a bloody, pustule covered giant, splattering and crunching as it closed.

Noah launched them to the side with another blast of wind, dragging the embers rising from his pipe along with them. They were the only light he had to go from, and didn’t want to lose it.

It was tempting to just start combusting everything around them, but Noah was willing to bet that burning any of the rancid, black sludge was going to generate the worst biological weapon in history.

The ground squelched beneath Noah and Moxie as they landed, tiny embers flickering around them like fireflies. Noah grabbed his sword, then hesitated before he threw it onto the ground. A warning was buzzing in the back of his mind.

Moxie yanked Noah to the side a moment before the ground beneath his feet erupted. A spike-covered vine weeping grey liquid writhed out from the ground, whistling over both of their heads as they ducked to avoid it.

Droplets of black sludge splattered across both of them, and Noah gagged. He went to throw the sword down again – and once again, he froze at the last instant. A speck of the black liquid had fallen on the blade, and it had eroded a hole straight through the metal.

Holy shit. If I toss the sword down, it’s going to be melted into sludge.

“Hold on,” Noah hissed. “I can’t put the sword down on the ground. This shit melts through metal. Hold onto my back. I’m going to launch us into the air and mount it there.”

Moxie didn’t even spend the time to respond. She leapt onto Noah, wrapping her arms around his neck. As soon as she was on, Noah called on Natural Disaster once more. A powerful burst of wind detonated at his feet, throwing them both into the air.

The embers scattered from the force of the wind, then raced up to follow after them at Noah’s command. He slapped his sword against his feet and it hummed to life. The energy within the blade felt weaker than it normally was – more subdued.

Now wasn’t the time to look into it, though. Noah leaned forward, shooting toward the ceiling as the embers caught back up with them.

As they grew closer, a violent chill set into Noah’s bones. He couldn’t place where it was coming from, but the feeling intensified at an incredible rate until it felt like he was about to freeze solid.

To Noah’s horror, he realized that the feeling wasn’t just that. They were slowing down. The sword was crawling through the air, barely moving faster than a casual stroll. Sludge had splattered across the blade, and it was quickly starting to rot away.

Something in the shadows shifted.

A pair of sickly purple eyes looked into his from the darkness. A breeze washed past Noah. One by one, each of his embers snuffed out. In seconds, the only light left was the faint, dying glow from the Flashgrass in his pipe.

A row of curved, shimmering teeth stretched into a smile at the very edge of the shadows, just close enough to catch the light. Just far enough that whatever they belonged to knew he could see it.

Then his pipe sputtered and went out, and there was only darkness.

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