Having finished his report, the Jackdaw Boss stood quietly in front of a glowing, blue orb and waited for a response. Two of his subordinates were straining to maintain the artifact's affect, which allowed him to speak to Drade, the sponsor for this excursion who was still back on the surface.
The artifact was a curious wooden box around the size of a dinner plate, which required two mana feeds of differing attributes in order for it to work. Once activated, the box would produce a glowing blue orb that would hover in the air slightly above it.
A second, identical blue orb would appear over a matching artifact in another location, thus opening a kind of portal between the two that only allowed sound to travel through.
For a while, there was no response from the other side. The blue orb just floated there idly as Drade took his time to mull over the information he'd received. When his voice finally came through, the blue orb shook and reverberated with it.
"... I want it. Find and capture the demon, no matter the cost. I'll reward you generously for your efforts."
The blue orb vanished as soon as Drade's voice finished, signifying the conversation was now over.
The Boss stood there with a dark expression on his face. They had found the demon's trail again, but the tunnel it led down was headed in the worst direction possible- straight into the territory of the noctic abominations.
No one in the Jackdaw party wanted to venture deeper. The Boss resolved himself with a deep sigh before turning to his subordinates and barking out new orders.
"You heard the man, we push forward! We'll use our usual formation!"
The Boss's voice softened now that he had everyone's attention, but it also took on a tone of greater seriousness.
"The ugly bastards we'll most likely run into are stealthy little pricks. Keep your eyes and ears sharp and for the love of the Gods, don't panic when you see them. Stay quiet, keep your eyes open and your heads cool."
With one wave of the Boss's hand, the whole party fell into formation with the tracker and scouts in the front. All together, the party consisted of twelve people. Some were there for specific roles, such as reconnaissance or artifact operation, but each member of the party was ready for combat all the same.
Every Jackdaw had a small device on their person known as a mana lamp. The mana lamp produced a light that matched the color of the person's mana attribute, and was the most common lighting tool used in the dungeon. It was safer and more convenient than using an open flame torch, but it consumed a small amount of mana to keep it on for long periods of time.
For that reason, the members of the party would normally alternate light duty until they came to a place where they needed full vigilance. Upon entering this more dangerous territory, every member of the party activated their lamp.
With every light activated, the team quietly moved through the tunnel. Their lights gently bobbed up and down as they quietly marched. The varied colors from the mana lamps blended together the further out the light reached, causing an overall white glow to surround the group as they made their way down the tunnel.
Minutes passed, then hours. The group moved in complete silence for a considerable amount of time. Indeed, the Jackdaw party was well-disciplined... Or perhaps this was merely the affect of fear.
All was quiet and calm when the Boss suddenly felt a hand grab onto his shoulder from behind, causing his heart to jump before realizing it was just one of his subordinates. Luckily, he didn't flinch at all.
The subordinate who grabbed his shoulder was Edmon, an archer who had been with the team for a little over three years now. He was a trustworthy man, and an excellent shot.
Edmon pulled on the Boss's shoulder to get him to lean closer, then whispered something in his ear. Edmon calmly let go of his shoulder and resumed walking as if nothing had happened.
To the party members walking behind them, it looked like the archer just made an unimportant, passing remark. Perhaps it was gossip of some kind. A few people saw the whisper and scolded the archer in their minds, thinking he shouldn't risk even that quiet sound in these dark tunnels.
The truth however, was that Edmond had spotted something behind the party and was reporting his findings.
The Boss felt cold sweat roll down his back, but kept his cool in front of his men. After waiting a few moments, as not to alert the others, he turned slightly and briefly glanced back for just a moment. That brief moment was all he needed to confirm Edmon's message.
There was movement at the edge of light behind the party. Something was following them.
Boss's mind raced.
Right now, only he and Edmon knew it was back there. The others wouldn't expect an attack from behind. But if he alerted the rest of its presence, they would probably be shocked enough to trip or even stop in their tracks completely.
Noctic abominations were blind, but had excellent hearing. It was likely their stalker would notice if someone tripped, causing it to attack before anyone had time to prepare.
After calming himself down, Boss was able to make a plan. Leaning to Edmon, who was still walking at his side, Boss gave his orders with a barely-audible whisper.
The plan was to gather one more from the group who could keep their cool like the Boss and Edmon, then the three would gradually fall behind and face the threat. They didn't need all twelve Jackdaws for just one noctic abomination. This would be safer.
Edmon moved forward and whispered something into a burly swordsman's ear. The man hesitated for a moment before waving him off and tossing a thumb over his shoulder, sending Edmon back to his rearguard position in the formation. A couple of people from the back of the group saw this and mentally cheered that someone had silently scolded the archer. Now was not the time for gossip, after all!
The burly man was crafty with his actions. He wasn't actually disregarding Edmon, but tried to make it look that way so the others wouldn't realize that something was up. This would keep the others at ease until they handled the current threat.
Edmon moved back to his position without any complaints and soon, the others had forgotten the archer's actions entirely. They were all back to the silent, monotonous march.
The burly man and the Boss gradually decreased their pace and fell back several positions over time, all without anyone noticing. The three were now at the very back of the party, closer to the threat than anyone else.
They slowly prepared their weapons. The archer readied his bow and reached up, placing his hand near the mouth of the quiver on his back. The burly man pushed down on the hilt of the sword fastened to his hip, preparing to draw. Lastly, the Boss reached behind his waist with both hands to grab his whip and dagger.
Both subordinates watched the Boss, ready to attack as soon as he gave the signal.
Boss calmed himself with a slow inhale, then quickly drew his weapons and spun around to face the abomination. His two trusty subordinates did the same almost instantaneously. The sound of unsheathing blades and drawing arrows both alerted the enemy and startled the other Jackdaws.
The ghastly monster didn't waste a moment and leapt into the trio's light with fangs bared. It resembled a human, but it moved far too fast to still be one. Its sickly, pale skin shimmered as if it were coated with some kind of mucus. Long, emaciated limbs thrashed uncontrolledly as the monster threw itself forward with an inhuman shriek.
In that moment, the Boss realized he had made a mistake.
The trio could handle a noctic abomination with relative ease as long as it was just one. But what had been following behind the Jackdaws... was not just one.