The cluttered streets of the undercity near the guild hall were not, it turned out, wholly representative of the entire region. To the south of the city, streets were far wider and buildings squatter and clustered together in shantytowns that rarely reached above a single level. To the north, several buildings were constructed of hewn stone and polished wood rather than being cut into the rock or cobbled together from scraps of sheet metal and debris.
As the trio made their way to the west of the city, they found the street filled with gruff folk covered in soot and grease who looked as if the bulk of their life was spent toiling away beneath a steam engine or wedged inside a coal chute. Here the buildings were filled with the sound of industry. Smoke poured from chimneys, and machines of all sorts clanked and clattered, the sound of cogs whirring and steam hissing producing a loud din as a soundtrack to this part of the undercity.
"Cogworks District," Vella said, reading the notes on her sigil display as the trio walked through the street.
Kane frowned. "What the hell are they making down here?"
She tapped at the display, sifting through information as they walked along. "It's all machinery that gets sent up the spire. Most of it looks like weapons, ammunition, that kind of thing. Looks like there are manufacturers in Gray Tier and a lot of the machine components from the undercity are shipped there and built into larger machines that are then sent further up."
She looked up from the display, eyes twinkling in the faint amber light drifting down from lumen bulbs hanging above the street. "The sigil thing is amazing! I mean, you could spend weeks looking through here. All the information is linked together and it all flows so naturally. There's a ton of basic info here, but it also gives you real-time data."
Kane smiled. "It sounds great, really. But what does it say about this spinifex creature? That's what we're here to kill, right?"
Naleth grunted and the two others looked up at him.
"What?" Kane asked. "You don't wanna kill it?"
The troll shrugged. "Maybe kill, maybe not. First we see what it is and maybe we talking to it. Make friends. Try to make it leaving on its own."
Vella pulled the contract from her pocket and scanned it closely. "Just says they want the creature removed. So Naleth's right, we don't necessarily need to kill it."
"Okay," Kane said, "but either way, we need to know what this thing is, right?"
Naleth nodded. "Yes. Good idea, friend Kane. Clear thinkings."
Vella lifted the contract to her sigil and scanned the Havenspire seal on the bottom right corner of the document. The display hovering above her wrist shifted focus, indicating that the contract information had been added with a pleasing ping sound.
Moments later Kane's sigil repeated the sound, along with Naleth's. They both tapped their wrists and saw the same information presented on their own displays.
Alongside statistical information sat an image of a large creature that looked to have been plucked out of a nightmare. It was hunched over, spindly spiderlike limbs protruding from forearms and hind legs with additional clawed feet propping it up from the base. The creature's head was swollen and covered with toad-like skin, melding into its shoulders and down into a large, squat body from which strands of dirty hair hung in matted clumps. Hateful eyes looked out from red-rimmed sockets, and where the creature's mouth should be there was a closed maw with three clawed fingers sticking out at even intervals as though the monster's chin were attempting to reach outward like a deformed hand.
"Jesus!" Kane said, zooming in on the creature. "There is no way in hell we're making nice with this thing."
Naleth screwed up his nose. "It looking like something that crawls out of the sewer."
"Exactly!" Vella said, far too excitedly. "They live in the sewers down here apparently. They're not common, but when food is scarce, sometimes they venture to the surface."
Kane scrolled through the contract information. He worked his way through the statistical of the monster, trying to remember what Kalric had said about it and hoping Vella had read up on the topic.
----------------------
Spinifex
Rank: 2
Class: Wild
Constitution: 2
Strength: 1
Stamina: 2
Agility: 1
Intelligence: 0
Overcharge: 1
Special Abilities
Venom Dart: Dart attack which sends up to three venomous projectiles toward an enemy within a twenty-foot distance. Darts cause 20% impact damage with a further 90% venomous damage over time per dart for 20 seconds.
Mind Fog: A cloud of vapor causing disorientation and a 20% reduction in attack accuracy.
---------------
"Rank two," he said, prodding at the paper. "So, how do we stack up against that?"
Vella shrugged. "We don't technically have a rank yet. I don't think we're even at zero. But the contract says this job is suitable for three or four of us, so I think we'd be able to take it."
"Two constitution," Kane went on.
"Yeah, that's it's basic health stat. It indicates how hard the thing will be to put down." She pointed at the contract. "It's got minimal strength and agility so it shouldn't hit too hard or fast. Solid stamina, and zero intelligence which makes sense. It's not likely to use magic."
"What's that one there?" Kane asked, pointing to the section indicating a single overcharge point.
"Ooh," Vella said, suddenly animated. "Now that's really interesting. Everyone gets a set of basic stats that relate to your rank, yeah?"
Kane nodded and Naleth followed suit, though somewhat less confidently.
"Okay, so each time you go up in rank you get new points distributed to certain aspects. If you're a fighter like Tusk, you're gonna go heavy on strength, stamina, and constitution, especially if you're aiming to get hit a lot. If you're more like me, you'll want to stack agility."
She turned to Kane, still smiling.
"Agility boosts stealth and critical chance numbers when you hit an enemy and they're not ready. It also helps with dodging, sprinting, and movement in general."
Vella turned back to the contract document.
"So, a rogue is going to go with agility so they can strike hard from stealth, and stamina, so they can keep moving during a fight. A mancer, like you I guess, will probably want to put everything they can into intelligence. That will increase mana stores, spell power, that kind of thing."
Kane let out a breath, his attention already starting to wane. "I gotta tell you, I'm not great with numbers."
Vella rolled her eyes. "It's all automatically done, Kane. You don't need to actually do anything yourself. Anyway, the point is, with each level increase, your stats improve, but it's not a steady rise. Every time you reach a tier entry point, the amount of additional stat points you receive at each new level is doubled compared to the previous tier."
Kane shook his head. "Okay, there's no way you understood what you just said."
She laughed, tapping at her sigil and bringing up the display. "It's all in the primer Kalric told us to read."
Vella flicked through multiple pages, bringing up a section which showed a diagram of Havenspire, seven levels intersected by a long, thin spire that reached up to the heavens. Beside the diagram sat figures relating to the gaining of rank and its connection to the spire structure.
Havenspire Tier | Entry Rank | Rank Bonus |
Ethereal 70 x92
Indigo 30 x48
Blue 20 x24
Vermilion 10 x12
Emerald 5 x6
Gray 0 x3
Black NA 0
Kane read the information, rapidly losing interest but well aware that ignoring the realities of life in Havenspire was a supremely stupid move considering how many opportunities there were to be killed, maimed, or worse.
"Like I said," Vella went on, "the higher up you go, the greater the rank skill benefits. If you gain one rank level and move from two to three, you'll gain nine points, which are then distributed based on your skill set, class, and which areas you've been focusing on the most. You go up one rank when you're at level thirteen, and the sigil will give you twelve points to distribute."
Kane nodded. "And it gets better the higher up you go. Shit! So a move at rank seventy gets you ninety-two points!"
"It does," Vella agreed. "But honestly, I wouldn't worry about that. No one ever makes it to the Ethereal Tier. It can take an entire lifetime just to get to Blue, and that's if you're extremely lucky."
She dropped the display and turned back to the contract.
"Now, getting back to the spinifex and that overcharge point. What I just showed you was the standard progression of points, and they all relate to rank. There are a bunch of different things that can add to rank improvements, like contracts, dungeon delves, contest victories, acts of valor, and that kind of thing. But they all point to rank. And an increase in rank drives the skill points you distribute based on that table I just showed you."
She prodded at the paper just below the number one in the overcharge row.
"This is the only other way to get skill points, outside of the ranking system. It's a bit like a bonus. It adds to your total score, but doesn't impact your overall rank or privileges or anything like that. You might get overcharge points because you've discovered some new martial discipline, or tapped into the power of a goddess, or something like that. They're super rare, and super hard to increase, but if you're lucky you might pick up one or two."
"And what do they get you? If they don't add to rank, there's not much point, is there?"
Vella's eyes grew wide. "They don't increase rank, but they reflect some special ability or knowledge. It could be an innate skill or something you've discovered during a super rare expedition. Whatever that thing is, whatever unique ability it represents, you can use it to your advantage. It could protect you from harm or make you a more effective fighter. It could give you the edge you need to win now and then, because details about your overcharge ability aren't publicly available, your enemies probably won't know what it is until it's too late."
"Got it," Kane said, hoping the admission might convince Vella to move past this. "Everything else is visible, but your overcharge ability is a secret that only you know."
"Well, unless you tell someone about it, or you use it in a fight. People are going to notice it then. But they might not know how powerful it actually is. All we've got to go on is a number. If someone had a five in their overcharge slot, that would make you worried. It's an indication that they've potentially got much more firepower than their other stats suggest. There are stories of people beating enemies five levels higher than they are purely because of their overcharge ability."
Kane leaned over and nodded toward the contract. "So our spinifex has an overcharge point. What the hell does that mean?"
Vella nodded. "Yes, well, here's the thing. Wild creatures, monsters, and even certain NPCs can have an overcharge point that relates to innate abilities. It doesn't always have to do with fighting though. They can be linked to a creature's ability to survive, or their reproductive methods. It might not help it in a fight at all; it's just signaling that there's a unique factor to the creature."
"Like it's uniquely gifted at stripping the flesh from human bodies, for instance?" Kane quipped.
"Is interestings," Naleth said, one finger firmly shoved up his left nostril and digging vigorously. "Lot of numbers and things. Interesting."
The look on his face suggested he was anything but interested. Vella folded up the contract.
"So," Kane said, "those things live in the sewers. Is that where we're heading?
"Not directly, no. We're going here." She pointed at an image of a small building wedged between a pair of large workshops. The diminutive structure had a narrow entrance and a single window facing the street, but the telltale beer symbol above its door showed the nature of the building.
"The Cork and Gristle," Vella offered. "Says here most people just call it The Cork. It's been around for years, apparently. The owner was the one who posted this contract. Seems a spinifex has found its way into the basement of the building. Severely injured two workers before they figured out what it was."
Kane took another long look at the monster's image. There was something unknowably evil within those dark eyes. It felt as though the creature might reach right out from the hovering screen and grab him by the throat at any moment.
"How big is it?" Kane asked, trying to keep the fear from his voice.
Vella walked over to him, moving in close and tapping his sigil. He felt the heat of her body next to his, and a thrill of boyish excitement ran up his spine. It was at once both intensely embarrassing and pleasurable.
He chastised himself and focused on the screen as Vella tapped a skull icon on the top right corner. The screen shifted, showing a revolving image of the spinifex.
Vella read aloud as she pointed at the screen. "'They range from six to eight feet in height but can reach heights of up to twelve when fully extended. The spinifex will only attack when provoked or to feed, typically approaching its prey from the shadows and using venomous mouth dart projectiles to paralyze their victim before killing and dissecting their prey using powerful hind claws and their more delicate forelimbs.'"
Kane's stomach lurched as an image of a spinifex feeding showed up on the screen.
Vella turned away, quickly tapping at the display to remove the image. She read on, skipping past a more detailed description of the creature's eating and digestive habits.
"'The spinifex is vulnerable to stealth attack, but if alerted to danger, it will close in on itself, withdrawing its forelimbs and wrapping its hardened outer skin around its body, leaving only some elements of the face vulnerable to damage. It will attempt to neutralize perceived enemies by firing darts from its head claw and producing noxious spore clouds designed to disorient and dull the foe's senses.'"
Kane moved past that section of text, pointing to a block of writing highlighted in red and written in white and read out loud: "'While the spinifex may use venomous darts as its primary defense mechanism, it is also capable of causing great damage with its powerful hind claws. The creature will typically only use these as a last defense, but the spinifex hind claw has been known to sheer through plate steel and solid stone.'"
The image below the highlighted section showed a close-up image of one of the hind claws. It was comprised of five long fingers with multiple joints. Each ended in a long, curved talon, all of which Kane judged to be around half a foot in length. It reminded him of the powerful claws of an eagle, just enlarged to monstrous proportions.
"Okay," he said, closing down the sigil display and addressing the other two. "So, in summary, we're here to hunt down and kill—"
"Or talk," Naleth broke in.
Kane rolled his eyes. "Or talk to a creature that could be up to twice our height, likes hiding in shadows and throwing poisonous darts at its prey…"
"Venomous," Vella corrected. "Poison is when you eat something. These are projectiles with venom inside them."
He nodded. "Ok, then it likes throwing venomous darts at its prey, as well as producing clouds of gas which could melt our faces for all we know. Oh, and it will wrap itself in an impenetrable cocoon if it sees us coming. If we do happen to get close enough without having our faces melted or being stuck with a venomous dart, the thing has claws that can tear through solid metal, so I can only imagine what that would do to us. Is that about the sum of it?"
Missing the irony completely, Naleth patted Kane lightly on the back. "Is good summary, friend Kane. Now we are knowing all the facts. Very good."
Vella smiled. "It's not supposed to be an easy job. That's why it suggested three people take it on."
"Yeah, but we're not three people are we? We're one massive troll, a guy who can barely tie his own shoelaces without fumbling the job, and an elf woman who, no offence, doesn't look like she can deflect venomous darts with her bare hands."
"I might be able to," Vella protested.
Kane shook his head. "Look, I know you're a kickass fighter. I've got the bruises to prove it. But fighting barehanded against something like this isn't gonna do much good, is it? Even if you can get up close, its hide looks like you could beat away at it all day and the only thing you'd walk away with is bloody knuckles."
Vella reached around to the back of her jacket, still grinning widely. She pulled out a pair of short daggers, twirling them about expertly in her hands. "Honestly, I wasn't planning on using my bare hands anyway."
Kane grinned. "Where the hell did you pinch those from?"
She frowned in mock offence. "I didn't pinch them. I arrived at the guild hall with them."
He remembered those first few moments when he'd seen her standing with the other initiates, twin blades strapped to her belt.
She nodded. "Kept them just in case I ever needed a weapon or two. You're telling me you don't have any weapons stashed away in your bunk?"
Kane stepped back. "Wait, you've got more of them? I thought all weapons were handed over when we first arrived at the guild. How the hell did you manage to stash a bunch of knives? You weigh what, a hundred pounds?"
Vella frowned darkly, crossing her arms with a dagger still held in each hand. "You know it's not polite to ask a girl's weight."
"I'm just saying, there aren't many places to hide a couple of blades like that, not to mention how many others you've got lying around. I'm impressed."
That seemed to placate the young woman. She showed the daggers to her companions once more, offering one to Naleth, who seemed particularly interested in the weapons.
As they made their way through the streets, Vella outlined a few potential plans of attack. She seemed to know far more about this kind of thing than Kane or Naleth, so they were content to let her take the lead. With a little pleading, Kane also convinced her to part with one of her daggers, giving him something to fight with even though he was clearly unskilled at the art.
They agreed that Naleth would need to do the bulk of the fighting if it came to that, but Vella was convinced that they would be able to use stealth to get in close to the spinifex and take it out before the creature was fully roused. She had no real evidence for such an assumption, but in the absence of any other plan, the group agreed to give it a try.
"I'm just saying," Kane muttered as they moved toward the bar, "it seems a little strange to just let us out on our own hunting monsters when we've only been at this for a few days. Fair enough if you want us to deliver packages or paint a building or something like that, but hunting down and killing a monster?"
"Maybe not killing," Naleth pointed out, holding up one thick finger.
Kane rolled his eyes. "Yes, big man, we'll definitely try talking to the creepy monster that drugs its prey and cuts them into pieces before it eats them. I'm sure it'll be only too happy to have leave if we ask nicely."
Naleth seemed content with the response, missing the sarcasm. Vella didn't care either way. She was still smiling as they entered The Cork and Gristle.
They introduced themselves to the owner, a squat, middle-aged man with white hair jutting wildly from the sides of his head on either side of a shiny bald patch.
The man, who went by the name Jemisin Greeves, led the crew down to a locked door which led to the basement below. He explained that there was a metal grate in the floor of the basement which led to the sewers. The pipe going out of the building was only a foot or so in diameter, but the beast had managed to crawl through the opening and up into the cellar.
At this point, Vella informed the squat bar owner than the spinifex was able to compress itself down to less than a third its usual bulk by dislocating several of its main joints and folding in on itself. The bald man nodded, confused and clearly more concerned with exterminating the monster than discussing its biology.
He offered the group a lumen stick, lighting the torch before unlocking the door and hurrying them into the room beyond. He then promptly closed and bolted the door behind them.
"I'll wait out here," he said on the opposite side. "Just knock three times when you're ready and I'll let you back out."
Kane held the lumen torch in front of himself, amber light draping the heavy stone stairs and then spilling out into a large space below.
"Okay, so I'm already getting a really strong horror vibe from this place," he whispered. "Also, how are we meant to creep up on the thing while I'm holding a torch?"
Vella didn't reply. She was already moving through the shadows up ahead, crouched low and moving with catlike poise.
Kane turned to Naleth. "You get the feeling she's running her own plan here?"
The big troll shrugged, his shoulders brushing against the edge of the stairwell.
Kane motioned to the darkness ahead. "Well, just be ready, big man. I'm no fighter, so if this thing attacks I'm gonna need you to use those big fists of yours."
Naleth bent down, whispering in a raspy voice with his mouth a little too close to Kane's ear, "What about your magics?"
"I don't have any magics, Naleth. Whatever that was back at the blood pits, it was a fluke."
Even as he said the words, the sideways "h" symbol came back to his mind, traced in the dirt and filled with his own blood. He couldn't explain it, but that shape now seemed etched into his memory. He knew, if the need arose, he could replicate it. But would that result in a similar situation as the pit, or was the trauma of that event so vivid that it had branded his memory with the symbol?
Naleth's giant hand gently landed on Kane's shoulder, pressing him forward.
"Come," the troll said. "We don't be letting Vella fight the creature on herself."
They moved down the stairs, Kane holding his borrowed dagger in one hand and the lumen torch in the other. It was a stupid thing to have done, he realized. It would have been better to have thrown the torch ahead or left it at the door, allowing his eyes to acclimate to the darkness of the cellar. Instead, he could only see a few feet ahead, and every time he turned and caught the wash of light from the torch, he was temporarily blinded.
Vella had the right idea, sneaking off into the darkness, away from the beacon of light. Kane suddenly realized what was going on here. Vella's plan, her willingness to let him hold the torch, her vanishing into the shadows the moment they entered the basement: it positively screamed baited trap.
And he was clearly the bait.
His only comfort was that Naleth was at his back. In the blood pits he'd seen the brute move with lightning speed and had to believe that when the need arose down here, he would do likewise.
As they reached the cellar floor, the lumen light spilled out into a large space with barrels neatly lined against one wall and wooden crates stacked against the other. In the middle of the cellar, a dark hole cut into the stone flooring led down into what Kane guessed were the sewers. A few feet from the hole sat a twisted iron grate that looked to have been punched out of place, likely as the spinifex made its way up into the basement.
There were grooves cut into the grate, likely made by sharp claws? The sight made Kane's heart gallop, and he gripped the knife a little tighter.
"Poisoned darts," he reminded himself.
"Venom," Naleth corrected from behind and above, his whispered voice far too loud.
Beyond the sewer entrance, the cellar stretched off into darkness. As they walked on, a series of free-standing shelf structures came into view, arranged in a seemingly haphazard manner. Some sections of the shelving housed neatly arrayed boxes and glass jars. Elsewhere the floor was littered with broken containers and dislodged items, with one shelving unit sheered almost completely in half. Once more the signs of wickedly sharp claws were in evidence, slicing through metal and splintering wood with terrible force.
More disturbing still, the torchlight illuminated gruesome drag marks on the floor, dried blood that still looked sticky in places and led off into the dark shadows at the rear of the basement.
Kane clenched his teeth, gripping the knife handle like a sailor lost at sea clinging to a chunk of wood. He was tenser than he'd ever been in his life, he realized. Nothing had prepared him for what was happening, not the endless hours of blowing away computer-generated monstrosities, zombie nazis, or terrorists in the shooters he loved so much, nor the past few days of being pummeled by initiates while he struggled to learn even the most basic combat moves.
Why fear? he thought, once more cursing the makers of the great game. Why would they populate a world with creatures like the spinifex and still give its citizens an overzealous dose of fear? Just one more mystery in a string of absurd facts he was forced to come to terms with.
"There!" Naleth hissed, pointing toward the far corner of the room where the bloody drag marks led to.
Kane blinked, moving the torch aside and trying to focus on where the troll was pointing.
Slowly, like the rising of some ghastly celestial body, a single eye came into focus, dark red and staring out of the darkness, looking right at Kane.
Somehow he managed to stay upright, despite the galloping of his heart and the impulse to run as far from this place as possible. He stared in horror as the creature's second eye appeared, seeming to emerge out of the darkness as though conjured by magic.
Gradually other features of the monstrous form began to come into focus. Thick, wrinkled hide covered the beast's rounded head, leading like the slopes of a craggy mountain to shoulders which seemed themselves made from rock. Beneath the glowing red eyes a narrow snout with four nostrils hung surrounded by shadow. A faint mist of greenish fog gently emanated from the snout, pulsing steadily, the breathing of a predator biding its time.
The rest of the creature was still hidden in shadow, and Kane found it difficult to guess the beast's size. It could be squatting down in the corner of the room, hunched over, or even lying prone with its grotesque head tilted up to face them.
"Is big," Naleth said, scratching his chin as he considered the creature. "But not making attacks. So maybe we talk?"
Kane shook his head, barely able to move a muscle. "I really don't think talking is going to do the trick here, big man. I think it's waiting to see what we want or for us to turn our backs so it can strike."
Once more, he reflected on the absurdity of the situation and his part in it. The expectation he'd been wrongly sold about tending picturesque farmlands beneath blue skies had long since faded. He'd come to terms with the fact that everything he'd assumed or been told about Havenspire was wrong. He'd even accepted his new life as a Brawler's Guild initiate, throwing himself into the work with as much intent as he could manage.
But this, this was a step too far. He wasn't ready to face down a creature that looked like it had just crawled its way out of hell. That was one of the first questions he'd asked Tusk and a few others once he'd settled in at the guild hall: what happened when you died in Havenspire?
The answer wasn't as bad as it could have been, he supposed, but it wasn't great. It turned out that the slaver's little trick of rewinding time and undoing the damage of the restraint collar was a product of exceedingly expensive hardware combined with an illegal sigil patch that controlled the devices. There were others throughout the spire, Tusk had informed him, wealthy patrons from the high houses who possessed similar technology which served as insurance against getting taken out by an assassin's bullet or some freak accident.
For the common citizenry, however, life in Havenspire was just as fragile as it was in the real world. True, through rising in rank and the various privileges that afforded, one could stack the odds heavily in their favor by purchasing protective trinkets, sigil upgrades, skill enhancements, enchanted weaponry, and so on. There were also med packs, healing potions, and any number of other paraphernalia designed to keep you alive provided you had the credits to afford them.
As far as he could tell, the logic of survival and prosperity within Havenspire worked on exactly the same principles as any game in the real world. It particularly echoed the pay-to-win model, where gamers who forked out enough cash gained a significant advantage over everyone else, regardless of skill or the investment of time. Another key point was that those who had been here longer were clearly far ahead of any newcomers. That wouldn't necessarily be a problem if it weren't for a fact that Havenspire operated like the ultimate player versus player experience, but without any of the limits placed on who could kill who.
Something shifted in the darkness ahead, and the twin crimson eyes of the spinifex moved slightly.
"Shit! Did you see that?"
Naleth nodded, moving slowly around to place himself in front of Kane. The big troll held up both hands, speaking in what he probably thought were soft tones but in reality came out like gravel passing through a trash compactor.
"Easy, friend. We not here to hurting you. Just for talk."
Kane couldn't look away from the creature. He was vaguely aware of Naleth trying to converse with the monster, but those red eyes held him in their gaze, as though to look away would invite sudden, lethal action.
"So maybe we talking," Naleth went on, edging forward. "You can telling me your problem and maybe we help you? Get it sorted and you can be happy."
If he wasn't utterly paralyzed by fear, Kane would have slapped a hand against his forehead. The big bruiser was actually trying to reason with the monster.
"Can you talking?" Naleth continued, still walking toward the creature.
"I don't think it wants to talk," Kane hissed. "It probably doesn't understand a word you're saying!"
Naleth ignored the warning, stepping further into the darkness, closer to the spinifex.
Its eyes shifted to the left, focusing on the hulking troll a moment before there was the sound of something flying through the air.
Naleth stopped walking, looking down at his chest and the three large bone needles now sticking out from his shirt.
The big troll turned, eyes lolling as he pointed at the darts. "I don't thinking he wants to talk," Naleth said, a second before tumbling forward into an unconscious heap. He hit the floor so hard that it shook several nearby bottles off their shelves and sent them shattering to the ground.
Kane held up his knife, panic fixing his feet in place as he tried to think of his next move. What if Naleth was dead? And where the hell was Vella?
The spinifex slowly unraveled from its place in the darkened corner of the cellar. Long, many-jointed arms with wicked barbs at the joints unfolded as it rose to its full height, moving forward so smoothly that it seemed to glide along the floor.
Green mist poured from its snout as the creature rose still higher. It flexed two foreclaws that protruded from its unveiled abdomen, pincers snapping angrily at the end of each limb. The creature held out its arms and loomed above, its head now hunched beneath the ceiling, eyes fixed on Kane as it chittered from hidden mouth parts beneath a grill of tooth and bone.
Opting for action rather than slaughter, Kane threw the lumen torch at the beast, thrusting the borrowed blade out in front of his body as he backed away.
Its strike came so swiftly, he didn't even see it. Several moments passed before the pain of the blow registered.
He was flung backwards against a nearby section of exposed wall. His head cracked against the stones, sparking a shock of blinding pain as he spun around with the knife held out front. Blood gushed from a wound at his left shoulder, and Kane saw signs of that same blood staining one of the jointed foreclaws of the spinifex, dripping to the floor as though it had dipped its limb in a paint tin.
The creature moved forward, preparing to strike once more as something moved behind it. Kane caught a flicker of silver before the creature screamed in pain, its cage-like maw stretching open to reveal rows of concentric teeth surrounding a dark, crimson mouth.
It spun around, limbs whipping with terrible speed as Vella darted out of the shadows, slicing her knife into the lower joint of one of its legs as she ran. She ducked and rolled, narrowly avoiding the first swiping claw but earning a savage blow to the abdomen that sent her hurtling toward Kane.
Vella hit the wall just below where he had. She looked around, dazed, her blade missing and the spinifex looming above her and Kane.
The creature's back arched as it shrieked, filling the cellar with an unearthly cry.
Kane helped Vella to her feet, handing her his knife as she looked left and right.
"We have to get out of here!" she said, spotting Naleth's unconscious body on the floor nearby. "It's too strong. We can't beat it."
The monster finished its shrieking, slowly lowering its head, crimson eyes locking onto the elven woman.
"Head to the door," she hissed. "Knock three times and get ready. I'll distract it and maybe…"
A trio of bone darts flew from the creature's face. One slammed into the wall behind them, driving an inch into the stone. Kane felt around his body for some sign of the others but found nothing. He looked down at Vella as she slumped to the floor. She was still holding the knife. One of the bone darts was wedged around the steel, split in half but unable to pass all the way.
Kane saw with relief a third dart also sunk into the wall behind Vella, but some of the venom from the split dart had splashed against her face, dulling her senses as she tried to stay awake. She was still conscious but having to fight for every moment of lucidity.
Vella's hand dropped, and the knife clattered to the floor. Kane bent down to pick it up just as the spinifex let loose another deafening shriek.
Riddled with panic, he pressed his back against the wall, the elven woman's blade in one hand, the split dart still on its lower section. He was bleeding, and not just from the wound he'd gotten when the monster had driven him against the wall. Blood dripped from his head and shoulder, and he could feel other cuts on his face and neck, perhaps made by shattered glass or splinters of flying rock.
This was the end, the final moment he'd been running from since he'd first entered Havenspire. He and his new companions would be slaughtered, eaten, and digested. Meanwhile, if Tusk was to be believed, their soul energy would be channeled up to the Didact, feeding the A.I. that controlled this wretched world in one final moment of humiliation.
The following day, Kalric would announce their failure and strike three names from the guild codex. Likely, Tusk would be the only one who would mourn, and probably then only for Vella.
Kane slid down the wall next to the nearly unconscious Vella. He chuckled as he caught sight of the unconscious Naleth. The big troll likely could have crushed this monster if he hadn't been so set on reasoning with the damned thing.
The spinifex moved forward, clicking its forelimb pincers in a strangely hypnotic rhythm as it glided toward Kane.
In that moment, a memory flickered to life, the sight of that symbol shimmering in the arena floor as the blade bearer was about to make her final strike.
Once more he saw the strange mark, the sideways "h" with its twisted upstroke. Once more he felt an irresistible compulsion to copy that mark.
He took the borrowed knife, spun around and began etching an approximation of the symbol into the wall behind him. The stone resisted each stroke as he chipped away at its hard surface, tracing the lines of the symbol just as he had on the arena floor. When it was done, he leaned back, but he felt no sense of completion after the fact.
The spinifex moved closer, raising its long foreclaws, still clicking away as green mist shrouded its gruesome head.
Something was missing. This wasn't like it had been before.
He tried to think through the panic, tried to reason out an explanation. The mark was exactly as he'd seen it in his imagination, just as it had been the first time. He was in mortal danger, about to be slaughtered by a spinifex claw, just as he had been seconds from being skewered by the blade bearer's sword in the arena.
He looked above the hastily made symbol and saw his own blood smeared against the wall from where his head had connected with the rock. Something clicked into gear in his mind.
Kane dropped the knife, reaching over to grab his wounded shoulder and grimacing as he pressed the palm of his hand against the bloody injury. Kane turned back to the symbol and slapped his hand against it, blood splattering across the wall and the covered shape.
As before, the air around him seemed to thicken. He turned to see the spinifex striking down against a translucent barrier.
The shield shimmered with crimson light as it deflected the blow.
The creature shrieked in rage and confusion, battering the ward with a flurry of lethal blows. It lifted itself up on its long foreclaws, leaning so the savage clawed feet beneath could strike at the protective barrier.
It kicked with all its might, using the same limbs and raw strength that had twisted metal and cracked stone. Yet none of the blows were able to penetrate the shield.
It moved back, clicking and spitting in protest. The creature fired three more of its venomous darts at the ward, but they were deflected harmlessly into the surrounding walls and storage crates.
Once more it shrieked, slapping its foreclaws against the ground in rage like a toddler throwing the mother of all tantrums. It beat the floor and spat and hissed until green blood started to flow from wounds on its forelimbs.
The creature stopped its tirade and slowly stepped back, eyes fixed on Kane as it returned to the shadows.
Kane squatted next to Vella. She was still awake, still struggling against the effects of the creature's venom.
"What did you do?" she asked numbly.
"Long story," he replied. "I think I've bought us some time. But we need to figure out a way out of here. And I need you to stay awake."