NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lazybones" data-source="post: 3144720" data-attributes="member: 143">It's Friday, you know what that means!  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> * * * * * Chapter 29BEWARE OF PURPLE WORMS!The glowing green warning was still there, unchanged since their last visit. “Damn it, I don’t like this,” Dar said. “In general, I would agree that descending further is not the ideal course,” Varo said.  “But for the moment, the unproven option is also the least deadly.”“Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t purple worms huge and incredibly deadly?”“If we remain quiet and don’t draw a lot of attention to ourselves, maybe we won’t encounter any,” Tiros said. The three men moved warily forward under the stone archway with its glimmering warning, into the vast cavern beyond.  “If I never see another mushroom, it’ll be too soon,” Dar said, giving the densest cluster of fungi a wide berth.  Growths were visible everywhere, but were a lot smaller and more sparse than in the cavern they’d entered above.  Still, they kept a very close eye out for anything that moved of its own accord, or for any patches that looked as though they could be yellow mold. All three men looked tired, with ragged beards and eyes sunken in their skulls.  Their supplies were running low, although Varo had told them that he could invoke the power of Dagos to create artificial foodstuffs.  As that would cut into the cleric’s healing power, which was now all they had to rely upon for dealing with injuries, they continued eating the stale trail rations they’d been given, for now. After another night’s rest, Varo had once again treated their wounds, purging Tiros and Dar of the lingering effects of their encounters with the monstrosities of Rappan Athuk.  Healing Tiros, in particular, drained a great deal of the cleric’s available power, and the old marshal was still a bit unsteady when they broke camp to continue their explorations of the dungeon. “There’s one thing to be said for this constant struggle for our lives,” Dar said.  For the moment, he’d given up on his old and battered sword, and had slung his shield across his back in favor of the huge club he’d already used to great effect against the black skeletons. “Yeah, what’s that?” Tiros asked. “Damned if it doesn’t make you sharp.  After a few days in here, I feel as though I’ve gotten better in melee than in two years of mercenary service.  Knowing that even touching something casually can kill you keeps you on a razor’s edge.”“Rappan Athuk is a proving ground,” Varo said from a short distance away.  “It is a crucible within which the raw ore is seared, and any impurities are burned away.  What you have left is steel, ready to be fashioned into a weapon.”“But steel can break just like anything else,” Dar said, at the same time that Tiros replied, “Steel is inflexible... it either withstands, or shatters.”  The two men looked at each other, and after a moment Dar chuckled softly to himself. “Damn, if I’m starting to sound like you, marshal, then we really got problems,” the fighter said.  The cavern expanded ahead, opening onto an even larger space that extended far beyond the dim glow of their torches.  The sound of running water was louder, now, and came from somewhere directly ahead of them.  As the moved forward, they could see another stream, this one almost ten feet across, and flowing with a swift current to their left. “Let’s fill up our water bottles, while we’re here,” Tiros suggested.  The marshal, still keeping an eye out for any hints of danger, knelt beside the stream.  The water was bracingly cold, but it felt refreshing as he cupped his hands and filled them, splashing the water across his face, washing away some of the dirt and blood crusted on his features. “Careful, the river’s probably full of demon-spawned death-killer evil bastard devil fish,” Dar said. “I had forgotten what it was to be clean,” Tiros said, sitting back on his haunches. “We should get the water and get clear,” Varo suggested.  “Denizens of the caverns likely come here frequently to drink.”Tiros sighed, but nodded.  Taking up his nearly empty goatskin flask, he dipped it into the water, letting the current fill it.  The water moved swiftly, swirling white as it rushed around a series of boulders lying in the middle of the stream. Boulders.  At regular intervals.  Shining faintly purple, in the torchlight. The marshal jerked back to his feet, the waterskin dropped and forgotten.  It floated away on the current as the other two men turned to Tiros in alarm.“What’s the matter?” Dar asked, lifting his club to a ready position. “RUN!” the marshal yelled, in the same instant that the purple worm reared up out of the streambed in a spray of water, its head, complete with a huge, gaping maw, turning toward them.</blockquote>

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