Ramsey walked to the edge of darkness and dropped the large bag. Entering the cave's lightless embrace was no different than being outside after dark, where nocturnal terrors had the upper hand.
However, fear was the great equalizer, no matter how massive or terrifying a creature, something exists that crawls under their skin, that petrifies them. Ramsey was gambling on fear. He wouldn't dream of fighting a nest of class 2 monsters without an advantage.
'When it comes to snakes, they're afraid of two things.' Falling to his knees, he opened the bag. 'Smells' he pulled out the jug of reclaimed vinegar, 'and predators,' followed by a fiercely posed taxidermied bird.
The bird, of course, was one of Creepy Carra's. It was a vicious looking creature with a long neck, hooked beak and unproportionally large talons. It resembled a bald eagle with the manginess of a vulture. With its wings pinned in a partially extended state, it looked ready to take flight.
Ramsey raised the jug overhead, closed his eyes and doused himself thoroughly. Dripping wet, the pungent smell invaded his nostrils.
Wasting no time, he lit the torch with flint and steel.
The torch was simply for illumination. Ramsey knew some people mistakenly believed that snakes were afraid of fire, quite the contrary. Snakes receive warmth from their environment and are just as likely to bask in a campfire's radiance as people.
"Why does it always have to be snakes?" Ramsey chuckled as he secured his feathered friend to his wrist with the last of his rope, then took his first step into the darkness.
At the entrance, the cave had a dirt floor, likely leveled by merchants to support the rusty metal shelves that lined its passage and divided it into aisles. The shelves once held a myriad of pottery and dishes, which now lay broken on the floor, crunching under each careful step.
Further into the cave, the temperature dropped slightly as the passage widened and the ceiling rose. This expanse was stacked with crates three or four high to both sides, with no organization to them, the path forward was marred with blind spots.
Ramsey stopped to listen.
The whispering flame of the torch stood out among the silence, its flickering light causing shadows to jump and sway.
With a somewhat shaky breath, Ramsey extended his senses.
'Focus. Use more than your eyes.'
He extended his range a couple feet by holding the torch out in front. The difference between five and seven feet was minimal, but he imagined it could save him against a fast opponent.
Passing the first group of crates on the right, Ramsey cautiously leaned forward, expelling the darkness to reveal-
'Nothing,' he relaxed momentarily.
Continuing his careful steps, he held his breath each time he peeked around a darkened corner, repeating this heart-racing exercise until all the crates were behind him.
The path ahead was substantially darker; there were no objects to reflect the amber glow of the torch - only a gradient light strewn across the floor, quickly fading to black.
Beyond this point the floor turned uneven, sloping downward slightly, and descending natural steps of broken shale.
With each step, the ceiling grew brighter as it lowered and the cavern narrowed. After some fifty more feet, the cave walls curled around to join in front of him, bringing the cave to its end.
Almost.
A dark oval opening, about four feet across and waist-high, stared back at Ramsey like an unwelcoming eye.
He stepped slowly to its threshold, trying to discern what was on the other side. He felt a temperature change on his face before anything else. A stream of warm air flowed through the hole, making the torch flicker. A breeze wouldn't put out the torch, but the thought of losing light this deep was terrifying.
Ramsey took an affirming breath and stuck the torch through, followed by his head.
Beyond the wall, another grand cavern came into view. Here, the darkness was decorated by a spectacular ceiling, dotted with dimly glowing turquoise stones, like stars in the night sky. Their light shimmering in the reflections of rippling water below.
This explained the near stifling humidity. Though the cavern was still moderately dark - like the last few minutes of dusk before nightfall - the gemstone reflections were occasionally blurred by rising steam. These were hot springs.
The floor on the other side was about eight feet down, making his eventual exit a bit of a challenge.
'I think I can reach back up here if I jump.'
Ramsey placed his hand on the lip of the hole, then quickly looked down when it felt wrong. The bottom edge was caked in blood, kept moist by the constant humidity.
He promptly wiped the blood away. 'Did someone die here? …Or were they dragged through?'
With the absolute darkness of the prior chamber, Ramsey decided to leave the torch behind. If he needed to make a quick escape, being able to see was critical.
With the bird in hand, he took a deep breath and straddled the edge of the bloody passage.
"This is so stupid," he whispered as he dropped eight feet to the floor below. Impacting with a thud, his boots sank slightly into moist rocky soil.
Standing beneath the glowing stones would have been a majestic experience, if not for the imminent danger.
Ramsey approached the glimmering water with cautious steps. He momentarily looked back up the wall to see his exit. The eye now glowing ominously from the firelight of the torch left behind.
Up ahead, there appeared to be three pools of water, some more active than the others, with the last one flowing beneath the back wall of the cavern through a passage barely a foot high.
Ramsey did not see himself trying to swim beneath that passage.
'Nope. That's a terrible way to die.'
With his thoughts preoccupied he failed to notice several slithering shapes until they sprang at him, hissing as they coiled around and up his legs. However, the assault was brief.
Choking on his stench, they quickly peeled away, falling to the ground. They circled a few feet away, periodically raising their heads to hiss and snap their unhinged jaws, while their numbers steadily increased. Soon the floor appeared to undulate with their movements.
It was then that Ramsey noticed the shimmering gemstones reflecting on their sleek black scales. He looked over to see the smallest pool was no longer rippling. It was never water to begin with, it was an incredible mass of swirling slews.
Ramsey threw the bird up as he focused his senses. It was elevated to around fifteen feet, with the rope pointing it downward. To its prey, it would appear as if the gnarly predator was diving right at them.
He increased the gravity, quickly dropping the bird to within two feet of the ground. As expected, the sea of slews parted, revealing the floor beneath.
'So many…'
Ramsey was beginning to panic. Their numbers were overwhelming. He had assumed correctly about their fears and keeping them at bay, but actually killing them was something he planned to improvise.
He released the gravity of the bird allowing it to rise, and elevated one of the snakes. It writhed trying to free itself from the invisible grasp. Ramsey drew Thorn from its sheath and slashed at the suspended serpent. His jaw dropped in disappointment when the blade simply batted the slew across the cavern.
'W- what? No… It can't cut a class 2 monster?'
Ramsey's heart was pounding. This was the plan - he had no other weapons. He had cleaved the warvles easily with the rusted blade, and now Thorn was twice as sharp.
'Dammit,' he exhaled slowly. 'Think.'
He thought of the last powerful foe he faced, the krewlhorn.
'I don't have the horseshoe with me. And that attack was a single use, I could never hold onto something with that much gravity.'
Ramsey looked at his blade, its surface sparkling from the points of light above.
'But, how heavy can I hold?'
He raised another slew to eye level, returned its gravity and slightly increased Thorn's as he swung. He missed, whiffing above the serpent as it hit the floor and slithered away.
'Not fast enough.'
Ramsey got the timing right on the next attempt, and the blade bit into the creature more, but still only sent it flying.
He increased the Thorn's gravity try after try, until it felt like he was swinging a sledgehammer, which finally severed a slew. Its detached body still wriggled after it hit the floor, but ultimately came to rest at Ramsey's feet.
[Defeated class 2 monster - Slew]
As the system spoke and the first of them died, they quickly became more vicious. A few gave in to their rage and launched at him, only to be quickly repulsed by the smell.
One by one, Ramsey raised a slew slightly above his head, returned its gravity, then cranked up Thorn's as he swung. This rhythmic flow continued as their bodies rained down, painting the ground around him.
The systems messages continued, sometimes overlapping due to the speed of the slaughter. He wasn't sure how many he had killed, it was impossible to count, but it felt as if he had been at it for hours.
Eventually, a very sweaty, exhausted, and bloody Ramsey stood in the center of a pile of bodies. Nothing around him moved any more. No more hissing. Just a small mountain of scaly black flesh and blood - so much blood.
Ramsey stumbled as he tried to step over the heap, but thankfully fell into a clearing just beyond them. He rolled onto his back and stared up at the glowing gemstones, where he stayed unmoving until he finally heard the system again.