Chapter 453: Adventuring (2/2)
”Lilith…,” he whispered as soon as they had passed.
Ilea didn't look back but she was surprised someone out here in Kroll would make the connection. An assumption really. She wasn't showing her ash after all, she was simply a high level healer. A rarity in its own right anyway.
Various structures had been built behind and connected to the walls, a dirt road leading to the dungeon entrance at the end of the makeshift village. It looked like the same mages who put up the wall had worked on everything else, as if the whole base had been poured from the same mold.
Lanterns and oil lamps placed on the buildings provided illumination, aided by the dimmed lights from behind the windows. The sounds and smells of an inn indicated the most popular spot in the vicinity, one adventurer passed out to the side of the entrance and another currently puking out his dinner.
”Lovely place,” Ilea said and smiled.
”Right,” Sophia murmured.
”Hah, just wait until you see the dungeon,” Colt said. ”Beautiful creatures.”
”Quite deadly,” Sean said and extended with a short explanation on what would wait for them inside. Blood magic ravens one should avoid, around level one fifty usually. The herbs they were after could be found deeper inside, where Mistwings, a type of mist magic butterfly sometimes showed up.
”Level one hundred? Nothing worse down there?” Ilea asked, not quite able to hide her disappointment.
”There are creatures lurking in the dark. Those who tempted fate have lost their lives,” Sean said.
”How insidious. Any real information? They're just monsters,” Ilea said.
”A few have reported abominations out of nightmares. The teams who actually went deeper and survived have not shared their findings with the public. The local guild only cared enough to warn people not to go into the dark sections,” Sophia explained.
”Two hundred and higher is what I heard,” Edgar said.
”With the people that vanished, I can believe it,” Sophia commented.
”Can we stop by the inn?” Colt asked and looked at the ranger.
”After our delve, it's always the same, Colt,” Sean said, obviously not for the first time. And not for the last, according to the grin on Colt's face.
”Sophia, can you arrange the usual two rooms?” he said.
The woman nodded and walked off, entering the inn.
”For later tonight, whenever we return,” Sean explained as he looked at Ilea. ”Depending on your contribution, it will be on us.”
I probably own the inn, she thought and nodded. ”That's generous, Sean. Thank you.”
They already went to the entrance of the dungoen, the ranger paying a fee for each of them to enter.
One would think they’d want there to be fewer monsters and more powerful people. Doesn’t seem like it, Ilea thought as she looked at the guard.
Sophia joined them a few minutes later.
“I trust you know how to work in a team?” Sean asked.
Ilea nodded. “You fight, I heal.”
“Simple enough,” Sean said and chuckled. “I like you so I won’t ask about your specific abilities. Don’t make me regret that, okay?”
She just smiled. If I were a man eating demon, you would be such an easy target, Sean. It’s almost comical.
It seemed that healers really did get a lot of benefits when it came to suspicion. Dale hadn’t really questioned her back in Riverwatch either. Just a random unaffiliated healer showing up in the wild. Anybody else’s interrogation would have been a little more extensive. And possibly violent.
Cruising through as a healer, she thought and smirked as they entered the dungeon.
‘ding’ ‘You have entered Caverns of Rot’
Nice, now let’s hope this place has a little more than a bunch of birds and butterflies.
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Sophia positioned herself behind Ilea, if that was really her name. She agreed with Sean. The benefits of a healer outweighed anything she could do to them.
Alone, she would be overwhelmed. If she wasn’t much higher in level than two hundred. Sophia had considered it but the notion was so ridiculous she dismissed it. Not because a healer of that level wasn’t a possibility, simply because someone like that wouldn’t join a random group of adventurers they came across in the Kroll mountains.
They would be an influential figure, a general, the head of a healing order or perhaps a high ranking mercenary or adventurer. None of that fit with Ilea.
Might be she’s just looking for a change of pace from whatever she did before. Or she’s telling the truth and just joins various adventuring groups on a whim. The risks involved are high, especially for a healer… on the other hand, it sounds quite exciting. And you’re not bogged down by the same faces all the time.
Sophia preferred the trust she had in her team to such an uncertainty. At first she had assumed Ilea to be an outlaw, her group waiting somewhere after she had poisoned, slowed or trapped them somehow.
There had however not been any unknown faces in town. She had inquired with the inn keeper and the guard, asking about Ilea and potential troublemakers.
One of them had whispered the name Lilith but hadn’t elaborated on it. The inn keeper had told her about the mysterious healer from Ravenhall. A member of the Shadow’s Hand it seemed, one apparently wielding ash.
Sohpia could see how she might be part of the Shadows, with her level so high. That would still not necessarily be a problem. Quite the opposite. They had a good reputation. As long as you didn’t cross or betray them, they usually stayed true to their word.
And still. The woman was so unthreatening and casual. Sohpia just couldn’t see her being anything but what she said she was.
“Stay low,” Sean said as they entered the trenches, coming out into the vast open cavern, littered by bones and a few burnt down trees.
The system of dug out and reinforced pathways was extensive. Moonlight shined in from a few cracks in the distant ceiling.
“Why the trenches?” Ilea asked, looking around.
“To avoid the flock of ravens. A few we can handle, especially with Sophia’s ice. Blood attracts more however… we’d be picked clean in seconds,” Sean explained in a whispering tone, looking out for the creatures.
Maybe not, with a healer, Sophia thought as she gauged Ilea’s reaction. She didn’t seem to care at all. A few glanced into the dark and a slight smirk Sophia nearly missed. What did you see?
She tried to follow her gaze but couldn’t find anything. She likes being in danger… that much is obvious. Maybe that’s why she chooses lower leveled teams. Her type usually doesn’t make it very long. Might just be her healing prevented an untimely death.
They made it through the labyrinth without catching the attention of a raven, a few of them occasionally flying by.
“What kind of magic do they use?” Ilea asked as soon as they had passed the main cavern.
Sophia carefully surveilled the dimly lit cave. By now she knew nearly every nook and cranny. It still never hurt to make sure nothing was lurking for them.
“The Rupture beaks?” Sean asked. “I never stopped to ask.”
Colt grunted. “Saw someone getting ripped apart by them. Seen it before… blood magic,” he said.
The man was an undisciplined chattermouth with a distinct absence of any kind of manners. As soon as they were in immediate danger, he got quiet and focused. He too was scanning the area with a casual grip on his axe.
“Interesting,” Ilea said absentmindedly, scratching her chin as she glanced back the way they came.
“We won’t battle them,” Sohpia said.
Ilea looked her way and tilted her head a little.
Sophia felt her breath get stuck in her throat as she took a small step back. What?
The moment passed as Ilea walked by. “Shame.”
She tried not to let her reaction show. Goosebumps, really? Who the fuck is she?
Not to trust one’s instincts was a sure death down in a dungeon. She just didn’t exactly know what to do with this information. Is it even new? She’s a higher level… maybe that’s enough? No… you have faced Shadows before and some that were close enough. Only two made you feel anything close to that. And they were using magic. There was nothing there just now. Her presence alone? Maybe it’s a healer thing.
“So, should we find some butterflies? I will heal you if you get injured,” Ilea said to Colt as she joined him.
The dull blue light from a common mushroom illuminated the way ahead, interspersed by lanterns, some still holding burning oil.
She signaled Sean with a hand gesture.
The man winked and joined her.
“She’s dangerous,” Sophia whispered when she thought they were far enough away.
“I know. I believe she’s trustworthy. Your call,” he said.
Maim and escape, kill with all we have, trust her and go on. Or talk to her about it.
She was sure the last option was the worst. The first two were risky but so was the third.
“I trust your judgement. Let’s continue. Just be prepared,” she whispered.