Page 27

Chapter

Seventeen

“If anyone dares to step foot in this room before I say it’s ready, I’ll give you disadvantage on all rolls for the entirety of today’s game.” Liam’s using his teacher voice again. Even through the shut door of the game room, we can hear him with perfect clarity.

I hover near the dining room table with the rest of the players, picking at Jules’s snickerdoodle cookies and waiting for Liam’s go-ahead to enter. Morgan appears at my side and bumps her hip against mine. “Sounds pretty serious, huh?”

“What, disadvantage?” It would be a massive punishment, meaning we’d have to roll our dice twice but be forced to use the lower of the two numbers.

“Yes, but no,” Morgan says. “I’m talking about whatever it is he’s setting up in there.”

“Did you see today’s map, Sadie?” Noah asks as he comes to stand by me. There are snickerdoodle crumbs caught in his beard. I consider brushing them out but keep my hand at my side. “Got any insider info?”

Catching on, Jules and Morgan lean toward me, too.

But I’m going into this session just as blind as everyone else.

Whenever we have an exploration session like this one, where our characters voyage into new territory, Liam brings out a lovingly crafted map so that we can better visualize how the adventure plays out in real time.

He even gifted us with miniature figurines of our characters.

I’d spent years in high school and college helping him paint miniatures for his games, but for this campaign, he’d done it himself as a surprise.

“I have no idea,” I say honestly. “He’s locked himself in there all day; Howard and I aren’t allowed in.”

Jules presses her ear to the game room door as Noah shuffles excitedly from foot to foot. Liam must hear his antsy dancing, because he finally emerges.

Our DM stands silhouetted in the doorframe, backlit by purple, green, and blue lamps scattered atop the table.

Eerie music seeps from speakers planted in each corner of the room.

The map is covered with a thin sheet of black fabric, though I can see the peaks and valleys of figurines and landscape pieces set up underneath.

“Come in, adventurers,” Liam intones. “Your quest awaits.”

At the base of the mountain lies a cave, and within ten paces of it, no plants grow.

Jaylie has become used to the lush waist-high grasses of the rolling fields, but here they’ve withered to brittle yellow stalks, and the tree roots have calcified hard as stone.

Shadows pour from the cave’s entrance, reaching out purple tendrils of darkness that seem to suck at the light.

The worst part is how quiet it is. Jaylie can’t pick up any skittering sounds of insects underfoot, and even the breeze hangs still, ominously frozen around their shoulders.

“Well, this feels evil as shit,” Loren says cheerfully. “Are we sure this is the cave Alastair told us the crystal orb is in? Are we positive he’s not just trying to get us killed?”

“It does reek of dark magic,” Jaylie says slowly. “But I don’t think Alastair was lying. He’s too proud—and too desperate.”

“We’ll be fine.” Kain’s voice rumbles above Jaylie as he slides past her to lead the group into the cave, axe balanced over his shoulder. Morgana swallows audibly as everyone follows him inside.

It’s worse when the sun goes away. The light disappears entirely, and the silence feels like a blanket smothering all of their senses.

Although Jaylie’s companions have the ability to see in the darkness, her own human eyes see nothing at all.

Loren offers to hold her hand, but despite the temptation, she needs more guidance than that; she summons a ball of pale pink light between her palms.

“I could sing, if we want?” Loren’s voice sounds very far away, though he stands right at Jaylie’s shoulder. “Just to chase away the bad vibes, if nothing else.”

“And alert every creature in this cave to our presence? I don’t think so,” Morgana hisses.

Too late for that.

From out of the gloom there’s a sudden screech, made infinitely more terrifying by the way it echoes against the slick, curved walls of the cave.

Like nails on steel, the skittering of dozens of legs follows the inhuman howling, clattering closer with each heartbeat that thunders through Jaylie’s chest.

“Fuck fuck fuck, get ready!” she warns.

The light between her palms spreads in a gentle circle around them. She sees the beady eyes first, then the oily shine of fangs, and lastly the furred, spiny bodies with far too many legs attached.

Of course it had to be spiders.

Of course it had to be giant fucking spiders.

Which makes it all the more astonishing when Jaylie and her companions cut through their ranks like knives through butter.

Surprisingly Loren steps forward first, lute held before him.

With a strum of his strings, tongues of fire leap from the bowl of the instrument and set each creature aflame.

Morgana sinks her knives into several pairs of eyes, popping them like wet black bubbles.

Kain follows soon after, and one swing of his axe is enough to take off at least six waving legs.

With Kain crouched in a defensive stance, Jaylie focuses a preemptive healing spell on him, forming a shield of pink light.

But he never needs it.

In less than a minute the spiders are sprawled dead in a semicircle around them, limbs and eyes and legs scattered in puddles of black and orange goo. Quickly Jaylie scans her companions for any sign of injury, but no one has been touched.

“Damn, maybe we’re actually good at this.” Even spoken in a breathless whisper, Morgana’s words are easy to hear in the stunned silence that follows the slaughter. Jaylie lets out a relieved laugh.

“ Hell yeah, we are,” Loren boasts.

And as they delve deeper into the cave, it only gets easier.

Kain carves through hordes of spiders while Loren plays a purposefully misleading tune that causes a group of reptilian kobolds to distractedly turn down a side tunnel, avoiding confrontation with them entirely.

All the while Jaylie consults the map she hastily drew using Alastair’s descriptions of the cave system, directing the party closer and closer to their goal.

With only a few tunnels left between them and the crystal, the caves grow quieter. Pressure builds in Jaylie’s ears, and her breaths become quick and shallow regardless of how hard she tries to keep them even and slow.

“We’ve already traveled a great deal,” she says eventually, sighing and slowing to a halt.

Loren and the others continue ahead before they realize that the sphere of light from her spell has stopped along with her, no longer illuminating the way forward.

“Perhaps we should stop for a while,” Jaylie suggests. “Take a rest.”

Kain frowns. “You want to quit already? Are you losing your nerve?”

Loren frowns at his tone and turns to Jaylie. “Are your spell reserves low?”

Jaylie tugs lightly at her holy symbol, twisting it between her fingers. She can perform only so many feats of magic per day, and although the path has been easy on them so far, she’s not sure how much more she can manage. “Not completely, but if things go badly, we’ll be in trouble.”

“But this has been a walk in the park. If we stop now, we risk giving whatever shit crawls these tunnels a chance to regroup and attack again,” Kain says, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

That seems to put Morgana on edge; she casts a wary glance over her shoulder.

Loren regards Jaylie with his brows drawn low over serious green eyes.

“I think it’s up to our lovely priestess.

She’s the one keeping us all alive.” He raises his voice and turns to the rest of the group with his hands on his hips.

When Jaylie doesn’t move, Morgana winces, and Kain audibly groans as he rolls his black gaze to the ceiling, which is thick with dripping stalactites.

Frustrated, Jaylie shakes her head, causing the gold coin charms woven into her braids to tinkle gently. “It’s fine. We can continue.” She tightens her grip on the holy symbol. “Just don’t get too hurt, all right?”

Please, my Lady, watch over us. We’re nearly there.

Loren studies her for a moment, but his mouth twists toward a frown as his gaze slides past her to take in their ugly surroundings. He’s eager to leave this place, too. “We’ll make quick work of it, then. I’ve also got a few healing spells up my sleeve, just in case.”

The light from Jaylie’s spell catches on one of Kain’s fangs as he grins. “Let’s fuck ’em up.”

They continue forward, and although Jaylie’s steps are slower than before, she follows.

Eventually they arrive at a narrow passageway in the wall at the end of the cave, just barely tall enough to accommodate Kain’s height—horns and all.

Its walls are covered in a blood-red moss, and the water running in rivulets down its surface makes it look like an open wound. Jaylie wrinkles her nose delicately.

“This is where the crystal should be,” she says.

“One at a time, then,” Kain grunts.

He leads, with Morgana offering to take up the rear.

Situated just behind the hulking tiefling, Jaylie winces at the sound of his horns scraping against the sharp stone of the tunnel.

Kain gives a hiss of discomfort as he shuffles through, turning his body to the side and leading with his shoulder.

After what feels like forever, the barbarian finally exits the tight tunnel, though what he sees makes him freeze just past its opening.

“Oh gods. ”

It’s the first time Jaylie has heard him speak with reverence.