[SD:DD] Soul Fire Eyes - Chapter 11

Gem, “So uh, yeah, maybe now would be a good time to leave.”

Samuel looks up from the dark hole, “Why the sudden change in attitude?”

Gem nervously giggles, “I can hear it coming. Hehe.”

Emrys grabs Samuel, and June grabs onto Gem and pulls the two towards the exit.

Samuel puts up only a slight resistance, “What do you mean you hear it coming?”

Gem, “The tippy tapping. A lot of it.”

June pulls harder, “And chaoskin have a great sense of hearing, what with the whole air connection. It is time to go!”

Emrys throws an illusion at the entrance to this seven-sided pyramid, seemingly changing nothing. “There, nothing should be able to see us as we exist. I can’t believe I was so blind!”

Samuel, “What?”

Emrys, “The scythes. They aren’t scythes. Or rather, they are, but their source is different. We couldn’t see! On a coin, carved into a wall? There’s no color.”

Gem laughs as they begin to move on their own, catching up to June and staying beside her in their rush to the exit.

Samuel, “Stop being so damn cryptic! What in the Laws of going on?”

Emrys takes a glance back at him, “Well for one, this pyramid isn’t made of marble or any sort of stone. That’s bone! And those scythes? They’re limbs. I don’t know what we’re dealing with, but I wouldn’t be surprised at bone mantids or bone centipedes. Basically, any insect that has scythe-like limbs. And specifically insects! I don’t know why I think that, but it’s what I’m Feeling right now.”

Gem nods, “Like I said, tippy tappy! Something skeletal with pointy limbs this way comes! Hehe!”

Samuel frowns, but catches up with the others, no longer needing Emrys to pull him along. “How did you even figure this all out?”

Emrys, “Well, I figured out the bone thing by examining the pillar. And yeah, the insect thing is more just realizing the scythe wasn’t ornamental, especially on the rough carvings. Rather, it was meant to represent a limb. As for the specifics? I’m just guessing based on common things to have limbs depicted as scythes and that eat locusts. What with the desert and all.

“Now quiet!”

Everyone goes silent as they rush through the opening that leads outside. There doesn’t appear to be any undead waiting for them, so they take a risk and break out into a full-on sprint. The wall of blowing sand is so close, yet so far.

Behind them, everyone can now hear what Gem described as “tippy tappy” and they weren’t wrong. Like a bunch of people rhythmically tapping their nails on a desk with just a bit of disorder thrown in.

As they reach the edge of the blowing sand, Emrys turns around and throws up three images, one right after another, all of the same thing. The area as it stands, but without them.

This pause gives everyone a last chance to look back as large bone scythes extend out of the pyramid. Blue soul fire dots can be seen deeper in. The eyes of advanced undead.

Illusions up, the group rushes, though not at full speed. With sight hopefully taken care of long enough to get the sand between them, the four worried more about sound. Who knows how good a skeleton’s sense of hearing is? Especially ones so modified.

Because those scythes weren’t just an exoskeleton of some giant big. No, they were like a 3D jigsaw puzzle made of bones. The seams flexed as black Mana mist flowed beneath the surface.

Everyone in the group is thankful as they make their way through the dead city. More dead than it had been in a whole as they had cleared those undead that were between them and the way out. This might tip off whatever monstrosity was behind them, but no more than them having to stop and fight would.

Except as they leave the area that was maintained for the outskirts where buildings had been moved, the undead make their presence known once again. Zombies still shamble around, but those withered husks are now playing second fiddle to the skeleton presence.

Whereas before, the skeletons were also wandering around, they now moved with purpose. Not necessarily looking for the party specifically, but clearly on alert for any outsider.

Emrys is burning through his Mana, throwing up image after image to hide them as they duck between buildings.

Gem strains their ears, listening for them through the sandstorm. Unable to truly give all that much heads up, they still manage to prevent the group from coming face to face with any skeletons. Which was especially important when it came to avoiding ambushes from the rooftops.

Throughout all this, June kept her Cat’s Paw buff going on everyone for that boosted dexterity. Making sure their steps are agile and that they’re able to react as needed.

Samuel takes the lead. There isn’t much for him to do, not having developed a connection to the earth that might warn them of any hidden danger. Though thankfully at least their way out doesn’t seem to cross over any underground threats.

Of course, they can’t run the entire time. It took them hours after finding the ruins to actually reach the pyramid. Sure, going straight out will cut the time, and running helps, but that would still be multiple hours and none of them are trained to run marathons.

Their first break is safe enough. A moderate-size building with only a doorway. Which, admittedly, isn’t the smartest hiding place as it has no escape route. On the other hand, it is much easier for Emrys to keep an illusion going that will be believable.

Not that the undead are the most on top of things when it comes to spotting illusions. But if there is even just one window and they look through and don’t see another undead that should be at the door? Well, they’re on alert so that could be quite bad.

But that was only the first rest they took and the safest. The closer they get to freedom, the less secure the buildings grow until finally there just isn’t a good option.

Gem, “Okay, we need a break. Phew.”

Emrys wipes his brow and glances around, “Do we? We’re almost out given the fact we can’t seem to find a single place with more than two walls touching.”

June is bent over with her hands on her knees. “Yes. We do. I do.”

Samuel, “We haven’t seen an undead in a while. It should be safe.”

Emrys frowns and points a bit further ahead. “That’s the best. I guess it will have to do.”

The ruined building has only two walls. However, unlike the other ruins in the area, another building was close enough that its wall almost acted like a third wall for the other.

Emrys, “Into the corner. Huddle up! I’ve got an idea.”

And it isn’t a bad idea. After everyone is gathered, he creates an image between the two walls, making their rest area a triangle.

With the illusion up, they all work on catching their breath. Right up until Gem spawns, eyes going wide. In their rush, they almost slap their face as they hold their finger in front of their mouth to shush the others.

Everyone settles into positions they can hold and begin to take shallow breaths. They can’t hold their breath until whatever it is leaves, undead could stand watch for years and not notice it, so all they can do is hope they’re quiet enough given the winds and blowing sand.

Clack

From behind the short wall they’re up against, a skeleton’s foot breaks the silence as it steps into view. Then another and another and even more. A skeletal freak of spines welded together with legs unevenly spaced along its length. Seemingly placed wherever there is a gap in the ribs.

Whether those ribs were purposefully removed to add the legs or this was simply the result of making use of what was available is beyond the party to know. All they can do is wait in silence as the abomination clacks by them.

Though it isn’t done with shocking them. As the last of this skeletal thing comes around the corner, they spot a collection of floating skulls, sans the jaw. Each positioned above a vertebrae with just enough room between them to allow the skulls to rotate freely .

Which is exactly what they’re doing. The dull embers of a soul fire almost ignited can be seen deep in a handful of the skulls. All the while they swivel around. Some spin at various speeds, others rotate randomly. All presumably to catch a glimpse of whatever they’re looking for.

Emrys’ brow begins to sweat heavily, his connection to the illusion spell being strained as this skeletal monster passively strains the magic. The few glowing skulls thankfully never all looked at their corner at the same time.

But the skeletal monster never pauses in its awkward waddle. Unevenly spaced limbs only offset by different length limbs. The lack of symmetry shows immense skill to have crafted such a thing. Where nothing matches and yet it matches between the buildings and past the group in a straight line without difficulty.

With it gone, the group relaxes a tiny bit, but none of them move or communicate in any way. Staying still in the corner in silent agreement, resting up as much as is reasonable. This takes a while, but once half an hour has passed, they’re ready.

Given that skeletal construct, someone clearly knows to look for them. Given this is the outskirts, it is the chance whatever undead force lies behind them has to catch them. Well, not the last, it could in theory find them wandering the desert, but at that point it wouldn’t actually know they were the targets.

Ready, the group stands up and Samuel holds up three fingers, two, one, and they’re off. All four of them are jogging at the speed of compromise. Fast enough to be fast, quiet enough to not be loud, and slow enough to not run out of breath anytime soon.

They remain close to the walls, staying near the middle and avoiding the corners, taking wide turns so as not to be surprised by anything behind them. All while the ruins are ever more deteriorated. Then they are back to single walls and a sandstorm that doesn’t want them to leave.

Emrys, “Anyone got a way to make sure we don’t get turned around in that?”

Samuel, “I left my ball of twine in my other pants.”

June, “Gem has to be in the lead, whatever else.”

They turn to Gem who shrugs, “I’ll certainly take the lead, but I have a question for Emrys. How do your illusions get anchored to a thing?”

Emrys frowns, “I just choose where to put them. Mostly, I just anchor them to where they are. Though I can anchor them to specific objects, you’ve seen me so that before.”

Gem, “Not like that, I mean orientation wise. Like, obviously if you anchor a mask illusion to a person’s face, it will stay in front of their face. But what if you make an illusion of something in the distance? Can you anchor it so that it always appears to be in the same place? So, like, if they turn their head, it moves to be in the corner of their vision?”

Emrys frowns, “Maybe? Why? We don’t exactly know which direction is north.”

Gem waves that off, “We don’t need north. We just need a steady direction. If you make an illusion of a line pointing that direction.” And they point outwards. “Will it always point in that direction? Could I move around and circle the line, but have it remain constant? Because then we have a way to keep going straight.”

Emrys’ eyes go wide, “Brilliant! I think. It should work? Maybe? It would require constant upkeep from me so I couldn’t keep it going our entire trip out of the storm.”

Gem shrugs, “That’s the best we've got! Show me a line and I’ll lead us out!”

Emrys takes half a minute preparing the spell and even goes as far as to say the name out loud, all to increase their odds. Though once cast, things fall into that horrible, horrible state of there being nothing to do but wait for things to go wrong.

Everyone is holding on to each other as Gem guides in the direction that the line is pointing. Though it doesn’t last hardly at all. Something about the sandstorm is messing with Emrys’ attempt to keep it pointing in the same direction. 

But it does enough. By the time Emrys has to drop the illusion, Gem’s Air resistance manages to rise from B to A-. An incredible amount of increase, fought for through adversity as not only does the sandstorm try to move the line, but also confuse Gem to wander off or reverse course.

And it is with that second increase, combined with making it far enough, that Gem struggles free of whatever ward covers this place. Still, it takes a while for them to fully escape the sand. Though once they do, the party makes a beeline for the city where they report their findings and take a well-deserved rest.

Subpar Loot - Chapter 10

Of Course It's Another Cult - Chapter 12