Fey couldn't stop her body and found herself quickly stepping ahead, rushing down the corridor, ready to heal.
"That's not slow or cautious Fey!"
"Someone needs me! I-"
She came to a halt as she neared, a large open doorway appearing to one side. She beckoned for Ellaria to catch up with the light, it took only a moment and light soon spilt through the entrance.
A man was lying on the ground. He stared up at them, his face sweaty with fear. Fey quickly looked him over, searching for any injury or wound. She blinked as she found his ankle trapped in a pile of wood and chains? He was trapped?
"W-water please!" wheezed the man, his voice like dust.
Ellaria's hand darted into her dimensional bag and plucked out a water skin then tossed it to Fey who grabbed it and sat down beside the man, her barrel hitting the ground.
"What happened here? Who are you? An adventurer?" demanded Ellaria as Fey tilted the bottle back and the man drank.
He gasped as he took his fill. "I'm- I'm an adventurer- yes- we came here, but we weren't prepared, oh gods, we weren't prepared!"
By that point the rest of the band had filtered into the room and were looking at the man on the ground in curiosity.
"Ah, I see what happened now. You are new to this line of work I assume?"
"...We- we haven't been a band long if that is what you mean yes, this was supposed to be our first dungeon as bronze rank, but-"
"Fools." sighed Ellaria. "How many?"
"There were five of us! Oh gods, what am I to do!"
As they had been speaking Fey had been moving her hands back along the man, out of view as he conversed with Ellaria. She was of course checking to see if he was injured, the problem was that there was something wrong with this man, his flesh was…different, not quite right. Puzzled she moved her hands over to the wood and chains and extended her senses. She flinched back at what she found hidden below the wood, not feet, no, something unformed.
"He's not human!"
The man moved instantly, his mouth splitting apart into a vast fanged maw that divided down his neck to his chest. His eyeballs bulged from his face becoming blade tipped tentacles as the thing lunged toward Fey in a snake-like cobra strike.
Razor fangs were about to tear into the panicking centaur's side when Vivi's long sword flashed through the air in an upward strike, an arcing slice of silver that instantly cleaved through the creature's neck sending its head tumbling through the air.
Before the head had even begun falling back to earth the rest of the body exploded with blade tipped tentacles, a terrible scream ripping through the air. The band reacted violently and fire and metal and crushing force obliterated the thing, dicing and burning it to nothing in an instant.
As that was happening the head fell, falling directly onto Lily's cleavage and knocking off the the scarf bear who was sent head over heels sprawling. The otterkin gave the disturbing severed head resting on her breasts a look of utter horror and fled screaming back into the hall.
Fey not being able to help with the violent destruction of the creature by the rest of the band chased after her, emerging back into the dark hall.
"Lily! Lily! Are you okay!"
"Help! Help!"
Strangely, the voice came from above. She looked up to find Lily attached to the wall, a number of tentacles squirming over her body from cracks in the stone.
Fey gasped and rushed forward, reaching out and grabbing onto the otterkin's legs, trying to pull her free. She applied her outsized strength and hauled on the small girl, the otterkin started to be ripped free from the wall, the tentacles failing. This seemed to shock Lily, as though she hadn't expected Fey to be quite this strong and had been put in an awkward position. In response Lily's face split in two, becoming two sides of a huge pair of fanged jaws that lunged for Fey.
Fey cried out as the jaws closed on her head only for them to freeze as something took hold of it, desperately trying to close the distance and bite down but unable to quite reach, the thing snarled in frustration, its muscles bulging, fighting against tan invisible force, even starting to make ground, that is until a long sword plunged through the creature's head and ripped out the side in a shower of gore.
Fey stumbled back as fire bloomed to life, the creature igniting, screaming as it died.
"Fey are you okay!?"
"Yes! But Lily! Where is Lily! Ellaria! Quick! The light!"
Fireballs zoomed in every direction, the corridor lit bright as day as flames filled the air.
There was no Lily in sight.
But then Fey spotted a certain teddy bear, one with a scarf. It waved at her and then ran down the corridor. Fey thundered after the bear, her hooves striking the ground like hammers. The bear darted down a side passage and she skidded to a halt, having to backtrack a little to turn into it. She followed inside and emerged into a small room.
The scarf bear was at the center along with a dozen more bears, each of them futilely attacking a… plant?
It certainly looked like a plant, a pod made of several thick fleshy veiny leaves curled up in an egg shape. Fey approached cautiously, not quite sure what she was looking at. After a moment she raised her hands and extended her healing sense. There was nothing, then, a heartbeat.
"L-lily?"
A muffled sound came from with and what sounded like struggling.
Fey didn't hesitate, she grabbed for the leaves and in one vicious motion ripped the pod in two.