NOVEL SIMPLE All The Spores – Chapter 204
It doesn’t take long after discovering the first bit of warped space for Jim’s group to find many other examples. Though admittedly that mostly comes from Doyle spreading them around the floor for this exact reason. While he hadn’t meant it that way, this was an unconscious action on his part to warn delvers about it being a potential threat in the future.
Back with Zach, the wood mage is getting a bit nervous. For the past few minutes, the group has been stalked by something in the dark. Susan had been the first to notice their unwanted shadows, but had been unable to bait them out into an attack.
This left Zach feeling a bit vulnerable. Sure, he wasn’t at the back anymore, Jay had moved to the back of their formation so Zach and Doctor would be more centered. The mage still didn’t feel comfortable so he decided to channel a bit of his power into some tree pollen, spreading the stuff through the area.
A costly bit of magic, but one that saves him some serious pain as 4 gray black wolves all jump out of an empty shadow. Sure, the others in the group noticed, but Zach had the earliest warning and because of this had time to get up a quick and dirty wooden barrier. It wasn’t much but three of the lesser shadow wolves got caught in what was basically a giant brush pile.
The fourth wolf did get through thanks to coming more from the side, but Jay was able to intercept it in time. Sure, it cost him a couple of nasty swipes since he only got his poleaxe up after the first flurry of attacks, but he managed to protect Doctor.
Then the three wolves that were trapped behind the wood jumped into the shadows of said wood. After the first surprise, everyone in the group had expected this sort of thing, but still weren’t ready for it and so Sammy received all three wolves to her back. Zach saw this happen as well since he hadn’t dropped the pollen yet and so was able to once again react the fastest, this time with a summoned slab of wood covering her back.
Those first few attacks did some serious damage, Sammy’s armor likely being the only reason she wasn’t out of the fight. Though now that armor was shredded to near uselessness. This didn’t stop her from counter attacking though.
As soon as she felt the wood slab pop into existence, she slammed herself backwards at full force. The three lesser shadow wolves hadn’t expected this, with two of them getting bashed into a wall while the third only barely managed to jump into another shadow.
That third wolf didn’t even bother to try and get another surprise attack in, instead regrouping with the other wolf that was having a problem with Jay. Of course, now that the shock has worn off Jim has joined in with Jay and so the extra wolf doesn’t add much. As for the other two wolves?
Well, Zach wasn’t too happy about the surprise and so introduced them to tens of wooden spikes that all popped out of the piece of summoned wood. Maybe, in normal circumstances, the two would have been able to escape into the shadows again. Doctor however, had been quick with a healing spell. Those spells generally had some visual effects in the first place and Doctor really ramped that part up, chasing away the shadows in a small area as the magical light show seemed to ooze through even the wood leaving no area unlit.
This left the two lesser shadow wolves over by Jay all alone. Well, it left the one wolf alone, the other that had been fighting Jay originally managed to catch a serious case of arrow through the eye. A shocking event that distracted what had been the last wolf. So much so that the wolf soon joined its fellows via a poleaxe through the head.
Zach Stood there for a moment breathing hard as everyone got their bearings. It had been a quick and brutal fight with two of their party being wounded, one seriously. Still, they were in a dungeon so he had to admit this kind of thing should be expected. Until now he hadn’t really felt much danger, after all, he was with four of the founders, people who even now felt near mythical. Yet there one of them was, back reduced to bloody shreds.
After the shock wore off, Zach finally got around to pulling back his tree pollen. It had done its job but the magic nearly drained him, especially with all the rapid cast spells he had pulled off in the fight. In the normal swing of things, he would have been able to summon smaller amounts of wood and grow it from there. This fight, however, showed that he would have to focus on making his summoning of pre-formed wood shapes a good bit more efficient.
On the other side of the group, Jim stands over-watch as Doctor and Susan focus on Sammy’s back. Doctor had thrown down a quick and dirty spell to stop her bleeding, but now it was time to properly look at the wounds. Though Jim has one question for them, “Can we continue?”
Doctor makes a sour face. He knows that Jim is only asking because his position in the party requires it, that if Doctor was to say Sammy needed to leave the dungeon, the group would in a heartbeat. Still, he couldn’t say that. While her back was messed up something fierce, the leather armor had done its job.
Doctor shakes his head, “With Susans help I should be able to fix her back to be as good as new, not even a scar to show for it. I will just need some time to work. There are just too many wounds in one place and I need to more carefully pay attention to how I heal the muscles.”
Jim nods, “Everyone retreat to the plaza we passed a few minutes ago. I don’t trust the buildings to bunker down in one, especially not with damn shadow wolves prowling about.”
Zach felt a little sick upon hearing that, because it was true. If the wolves had attacked while the group was checking out one of the buildings or was forced to move through them to progress, this fight could have been a lot worse. The corners just provided too many locations to escape into.
This fight had mostly been straightforward as the wolves didn’t get a chance to retreat after their surprise attack. Zach could just imagine what would have happened if instead the four wolves had retreated and instead fought more of a hit-and-run style battle. Sammy likely wouldn’t be the only one with a serious wound.
On the other hand, Doyle and Ally are both ecstatic about the fight. Back in Ally’s room the two of them are celebrating one of the better fights they have had against the founders in a while. Though Ally notices how the wolves could have done better as well and tells Doyle about it.
Doyle nods, ‘They would certainly be able to do a better job if that was the case. Though if I let them really go at it this floor would be a bit too hard for my taste. After all, the most effective time to attack would be when the group is caught up with one of the vine monsters. Just think of the damage that could have been done if the wolves had jumped in while Zach was caught.
‘For now, I think I will let them continue as they are. These wolves are more of a spice to kick up the tension of the floor instead of the main attraction. If I really wanted to kill groups, I could have just replaced the myconids with them and set a bunch of ambushes involving the elder vines.’
Ally sighs, ‘I realized something.’
Doyle tilts to the sides, ‘What?’
Ally laughs, ‘It feels weird advising you because all of my dungeon fairy training was on how to de-escalate a dungeon’s danger. I’m full of tips and tricks on how to make sure a dungeon doesn’t accidentally become a death pit and here I am having to advocate for more danger.
‘Like, even if you were the usual wizard turned dungeon I would have to make use of the training. They would want to make an impenetrable dungeon to protect their life and here you are worrying about being unfair to the delvers.’
Doyle laughs as well, ‘I can definitely see that. No matter how you look at things, my situation is an odd one.’
The two of them chatter back and forth for a bit more as on the seventh floor, Jim’s group is taking its time to get back into fighting shape. Jay’s wounds were quick enough to deal with and Sammy’s only took another ten minutes to properly sort out, but that still left both Doctor and Zach magically stressed.
Jim didn’t even ask them, instead having the group set up for a proper long rest and a meal. A smart choice as Zach hadn’t fully realized just how close he had been to running dry during the fight. While this didn’t prevent him from casting spells, it would have increased the chances of bottoming out in any future fight until he recovered.
After that rest, the group easily finishes the first half of the floor, only having to fight five more assassin vines. Back with Ally, Doyle is a bit disappointed that the group managed to thread the needle and completely miss both elder assassin vines, but that is just to be expected when dealing with ambush monsters.
The group only starts to feel the pressure again once they get into the last portion of the floor. There are just too many myconids and those myconids most certainly aren’t loners so soon enough the group is pulled into an unending fight. More and more myconids are pulled in by distress spores as the group fights its way ever closer to the floor’s exit.
This running fight reaches a climax within sight of the exit portal as the group faces down the remaining myconids. About 11 swarms with a few hundred sprouts, nine lesser myconids, and all three of the troop guards. The air is so heavy with spores that it is hard to tell where the fog stops and the spores start.
At this point Doctor has six spells up and running just to keep everyone’s lungs clear even if they had all taken the antidotes. While the spores might not be paralyzing or knocking anyone out, the sheer quantity would be causing respiratory problems simply from breathing them. Zach is assisting in this though because of the more magical origin of the spores, he isn’t able to control them, instead being reduced to using his own pollen to fight for air space.
Behind them all, Jim watches with a frown. They hadn’t meant to get into this situation and he can only thank his lucky stars that his group wasn’t being flanked. Still, he felt they should be able to take them, the only wild card being the three five-limbed oddities. Though from his observation they didn’t have some new kind of nasty spore based surprise so he was willing to fight.
A quick look at Doctor and Zach though was enough to tell him that wasn’t in the cards. “We need to retreat! The spores are just too much and we need to figure out a solution for them first.”
While the others have their own opinions, no one questions him as they all retreat. The myconids seem fine with this state of affairs, letting them slink off into the fog.
Once out, both Doctor and Zach let out a sigh of relief. Doctor in particular throws a look at Jim who can only nod. With a sour look on his face, Jim addressed the group. “We need to leave for now. The mages, in particular Doctor, just got strained way too much. Even without the magical poisons involved, those spores are way too much of a problem. Zach, we’re going to need you to look into a solution.“
Zach shrugs, “Obviously fire magic might work, though if you know anything about dust explosions it might not be desirable. I suspect though that the answer is a lot more grindy than we would like. There are so many spores because there are a ton of myconids. Kill more myconids and the number of spores would go down.”
