MH3 - Chapter 10: Hornet's Nest

Dolli marched out of her cottage with Taffy hot on her heels.

“If I hadn’t been on the last dive, you woulda died,” Taffy countered Dolli with the same point for the third time and she wondered if his Mental Prowess was still low from all the whiskey.

“Yes, and if you’re not here to defend your brew, it will be vulnerable. This dungeon is better suited to larger tanks, Bronzite and Osorath. It’s also better suited to Nether and Nature aligned creatures. We have that in spades.”

“But—”

Dolli spun around to face him. “Do you take pleasure in fighting me on everything?”

Taffy opened his mouth, the sheepish look on his face already saying it all.

“Don’t answer that. It was rhetorical to prove a point. Taffy, you object to my every move.”

Taffy interrupted, his hand up. “I understand that’s hyperbole, so I won’t disagree with you on the frequency of my objections… go on.”

The pink storm swirls in her chest flared brightly. How in nevheröld did he know just what to do to upset her more? She took a moment to collect her thoughts and start again. “I appreciate being challenged, but do you have no faith in me at all?”

“I think sometimes you don’t always see what I see,” Taffy replied, skirting the subject.

“And your view is so much clearer? You think you’d make better choices in my position?”

Taffy scowled, taken aback. “Is that what’s got you in a tizzy? You think I’m vyin’ for Overlord?”

“I’m in a tizzy because of your near-constant disregard for my directives as Overlord. You will stay here and work on the brew. The dive party is already assembled at the mouth. That’s final,” Dolli said and turned away.

“Sure thing, Overlord. Sit, stay, finish the brew. Right away!” Taffy shouted after her as she went.

Blast him! Dolli felt like screaming but knew nothing good would come about from that. The storm of golden pink in her chest whirled and whipped like it wanted to escape in a torrent of destruction. Soon enough, dear Spark. She’d be slinging spells and bringing the seven hells.

The dive party waited on Turtle_TK’s tongue: Greg, Julie, Rufus, Katrina, two hulking Osorath, one Nature aligned Wispelle—TK_??nature kind name—and two Nether aligned Wispelle—TK_nameyname.

Katrina had let them know the limit on entering the area would be a party of ten. If they tried to enter with more, they’d be rejected. Dolli took Katrina at her word instead of attempting to bring more, though she was tempted.

“Everything alright?” Rufus asked when he saw her. She must’ve looked like a bright beacon coming down Turtle_TK’s dark passage of a throat.

“I hope so,” Dolli said.

She shook off the conversation with Taffy and focused her eyes on the bright green forest outside Turtle_TK’s mouth. It was a far cry from the forest they’d just hidden in. Tropical birds flew past the opening and cried lovely mating calls. The moisture in the air felt tight around the Spark of her body, like the clothes had on her human skin. It was warm, and the air smelled of moist, rich soil.

“Let’s make sure to dig up some of this earth for replanting,” Dolli said, sending images of Turtle_TK taking big bites out of the ground and swallowing the dirt down to the city. Turtle_TK hummed and clicked, then lowered his mouth to the forest floor.

The dive team disembarked and looked to Katrina.

The young mage straightened and took on a stronger tone of voice. ““Keep your wits about you. We will encounter other heroes in here. Follow me, and we’ll be there in no time.”

Dolli smiled at her performance. It was overdone, but effective. Greg and one of the Osorath’s took the front with Katrina, then the casters fell in the middle with Rufus and the other Osorath taking the rear.

This was a common dungeon dive according to what Katrina found on the forums, but there were special steps to get the Druidic Staff of Sherkahn to spawn. They had to take a specific route, and there was a puzzle that had to be passed in a specific way. Likewise, if the team wasn’t the right size, it would throw off the encounter and the staff would not appear. It was not tied to the Overlord, though, and for that Dolli was grateful.

They entered the thick trees and the insect chirping intensified. The constant buzz wasn’t much of a bother to Dolli. She’d become familiar with these sounds living alone in her cottage, but she heard Greg complaining about how mad it was driving him up at the front.

Ahead, a shimmering barrier rippling like water appeared like a door between two trees. [JH1] [JH2] Katrina stopped to address the party.

“This is the southwest entrance. It’s least frequented because of the difficulty level on the monsters inside, which’ll hopefully decrease the number of hero encounters we have. Be ready to fight the second we step through.”

Greg and the Osorath went through first, then Katrina and the rest. When Dolli passed through the portal, a notification blinked in the corner of her vision. She didn’t need to check it, she was sure she already knew what it said.[JH3]

A predator’s snarl snapped Dolli’s attention forward.

“Above!” Katrina called and pointed up to the trees. Fire belched from the ruby that crowned her staff and smashed into the bark.

A camouflaged outline of a massive wildcat dropped into the road. It lunged forward, emerging into the light as a black panther with glowing emerald eyes. Greg stepped into the lunge and hardened his skin. The cat’s swipe landed with a gong against Greg’s skin, and sparks flew from where its extended claws scraped over his parrying arm.

Dolli cast Zeal on Greg, then dropped Gravity Well underfoot.[JH4] The panther tried dodging left to escape the debuff, but Rufus was faster. Green moss snaked up the cat’s feet and tangled it up to the chest, holding it still. The beast snarled and bit at the moss growing up his legs, trying to free himself.

The TK_Nether Wisp fired sickly looking Disease Lances at the creature, turning the health bar over its head yellow and removing decent chunks of life. They finished the cat off with a flurry of Osorath blows, then caught their breath.

“Told ya. There’s always one waiting just inside the entrance,” Katrina said, then gulped down a Spark potion. “It doesn’t get easier from here.”

They took another moment, then pressed on. Another two of the wildcats crossed their paths, and an enormous bird of paradise that’s caw made the entire party deaf for five minutes, but then they made it to the first part of the puzzle.

Katrina poked at glowing runes on a tall stone tablet with precise movements, but her gaze was distant and mouth agape. After two failed attempts, Katrina got the right code.

Another shimmering portal appeared between the stones on the path ahead. “This is the entrance to the secret dungeon. The monsters in here have been altered by Sherkahn’s magic, so they’ll be really huge.”

“Huger ‘an what we’ve been fightin?” Greg asked with a pained scowl.

Katrina nodded. “Like, dino-sized.”

Dolli didn’t know what that meant but didn’t have to. She’d find out for herself. She walked to the front of the group. “No time to waste.”

Katrina gulped and nodded. “Yeah. Just—just recalling all the horrific deaths I’ve had in here. I tried to solo it yesterday to see if I could help speed things up for y’all… yeah, it’s not soloable.”

Dolli summoned all her courage and passed through the glossy portal between the stones. The forest instantly went from comfortably overgrown to claustrophobic. It was as if they’d entered another dimension within the dungeon, some place kept just beside the real world.

Was this the power of Sherkahn’s Shillelagh at work? Were they entering new realms with the power of the staff? Though the TK_Necrotic Gem seemed to have leaked out into the dungeon, the power of the Druidic Staff seemed safely locked behind the portal, perhaps one of its own making to prevent the spread of destructive power.

Dolli knew that Sherkahn was not a true legend of Hafheim. A shamanic druid who’d fought necromancers from distant expanses and done battle with the greatest warriors the realm had ever seen for the last three-hundred years seemed like someone Dolli would’ve met in her travels before the heroes came.

“Bit of a tight squeeze,” Greg said in a low grumble behind her. “Mind movin’ up?”

Dolli stepped forward, her Spark flowing around the leaves and distorting her vision. Fold Reality would be useless in here—she could barely see past her nose! Starfire might help with that a bit.

She held up one hand and called forth the meteorites in front of her. The tiny explosions blasted apart leaves and kicked black soil into the air. It would at least give them a spot to gather and strategize without having to stand on top of one another.

“Not the bugs!” Katrina yelled from the portal.

All at once, dozens of [Stunned!] notices appeared in Dolli’s vision. The buzzing that’d been a pleasant background to Dolli roared like a detonating volcano. When the [Stunned!] text dissipated and the cloud of falling embers ended, a black mass swarmed together in the clearing, searching for the aggressor.

“Oh, em, eff, gee. Did you not hear a word I said?” Katrina asked.

She threw a fireball past Dolli’s head. It detonated into a fiery shield and radiated out through the swarm of incoming wasps. Hundreds of the black, red, and yellow buggers fell out of the sky, their wings crisped down to the nub of their backs.

The wasps were six inches long, with stingers the size of leather needles and yellow wings that spread noxious fumes wherever they flapped. A cloud of the no-doubt poisonous wing dust was quickly filling up the space Dolli had made with her spell. Another swarm of the beasts broke apart, surrounding the group.

“They inflict mounting pain debuffs with every sting, stacks up to a hundred times,” Katrina said. “Once you get one-hundred stings, you die. So like, try not to like, get stung a lot.”

Dolli cast Gravity Well below their feet, increasing her allies’ dodge chance, movement speed, and attack speed by [TK_what was it?] percent. The first line of wasps surged in like missiles, blurring their colors they moved so fast.

They crossed the area-effect of Gravity Well and slowed until they were visible. Dolli targeted the one closest to her and cast Solstorm. The yellow light zapped through the circle of incoming bugs and dropped them to the forest floor. The chain effect faded with every jump, and the bugs stopped dying on the first hit.

Greg radiated heat and stepped around Dolli. His chest glowed like a forge, the molten heat narrowing to a small circle surrounded by golden light. Greg planted his feet and pumped out his chest, fists clenched.

Liquid fire exploded from his chest in a spectacular spray that coated the incoming wasps_TK[JH5] . All around the forest the bugs dropped to the ground, burned in half or wings seared off. The air around them quieted, the wasps defeated.

“Nice moves, Greg,” Katrina said with a wide grin. “Man, I would not want to be on the receiving end of that.”

Greg looked back at her with a child-like giddiness. “That was my firs’ time using [Volcanic Blast]!”

“It was sick, as the heroes say,” Dolli smiled at the Bronzite. “Can you do it again?”

Greg dropped his head. “Not for another hour.”

Dolli patted him.

“Hope you have something stronger lined up for that one,” Katrina said pointing over Dolli’s shoulder. “It’s enraged.”

She turned and looked beyond the clearing all the damage had created. A wild boar the size of a house was staring back at Dolli from the other side. His eyes glowed red and steam curled up from his nostrils.

They’d just messed with the wrong forest.

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Henlo my dudes. Notice those little [JH] tags up there in the text? Yep, those are totally reminders for myself. If you want to know what they say, leave a little heart on this chapter and I'll drop them in the comments. Back stage pass to the writing process!