Nyssa was beginning to get some color in her cheeks. The hourly potion dosages were doing their job and after a few hours, she was awake and with the group once again. She looked around and saw that she was on a couch in an unfamiliar living room.
Hearing the voices of her companions in the background she sat up and winced at the pain that shot down her leg. "Ow!" she cried out as she saw the perfectly bandaged wrap around her leg. Everyone else looked at her as she made noise and moved around.
Once her vision was fully back she saw that she was surrounded by her friends and the dwarf from earlier. She looked to Doric and sighed a breath of relief. "So we made it?"
Doric nodded. "Yea, and Felchio here along with a priest helped heal your wounds. We have been feeding you healing potions from time to time to speed up the recovery."
She moved her body to the upright position and as her legs touched the ground she felt the tender aching from the wound that was still closing. "It surprised me. Whatever it was."
Felchio handed her a warm glass of tea and responded gruffly. "They are called Cordo, at least that is what we call them. They are mushroom creatures that attack any living thing and spread their spores all over the caves. They are classified as invasive rodents to us."
Doric continued from where Felchio left off. "He was explaining the situation to us while you were asleep. Apparently they mined into a dormant area that housed a large quantity of these creatures and ever since then they have been getting pushed back further and further into their homes as the creatures continue to advance."
Skia followed up. "They want us to see if there is any way we could handle these for them. He gave us a map showing us where the shaft that leads to the outbreak began and also shows how far the creatures have come since then…" She trailed off a little nervous as she showed Nyssa the map.
It showed a long mineshaft leading off towards the north. The green on the map showed the known spread of the Cordos and it was massive.
"How are we going to handle this? There are way to many and we barely survived one of them." Nyssa brought up a valid point. One sniper almost took them out. A whole army was way out of their reach.
Doric scanned the map and beat his brain to find any clues as to how to defeat these things. He was never really good with mushrooms. Always hated them growing up. Now it looks like all the ones he threw in the trash were coming back with a vengeance.
"I don't know how we are going to manage this. Welsher said we were perfect for the task but I don't see how our combined abilities would work in this situation." Doric said as he struggled to keep his composure.
Skia pondered for a moment. "I saw you using fire earlier to burn the bodies. Was that to keep them from spreading?"
Felchio nodded sipping some of his tea. "Exactly. Fire is the only deterrent we have against these things. We had some fungal repellant but the storage that houses it all is overrun by those things. They did not get too close to the storage room itself but they did surround it."
Doric eyes lit up just then. "Ah, so our mission should be broken up into smaller sections. We need to get to that storage unit first and retrieve the fungal repellant and then work our way towards the queen."
Nyssa grinned. "Fungal repellant you say? What do you use for that?"
Felchio pointed out the window. "We have a small garden in the herbalist's district that houses all our plants. We use a Pyro Flower extract along with some pepper they plant there. Fungus seems to hate the mixture but both those areas are controlled by them right now."
Nyssa looked over to Doric and as their eyes locked they could tell that they were thinking the same thing.
"We need to get to one of those locations first and procure one or the other. I recommend the storage unit first and then working our way to the plants."
Nyssa pumped her fist in front of her. "It's as good as done, these Cordos are not going to know what hit them!"
Doric could not argue with her thought process. It was the exact same one he had. He nodded and looked to Felchio. "What is the best path we could take to get to the storage unit?"
Putting his tea down for a moment he pointed at a section of the map. "This area is currently the quickest way to get to storage. They have it blocked off but it's mainly a passthrough section. They did not stay long enough to cultivate themselves. Probably due to the nature of the area."
Doric clicked his teeth together. "Perfect we can-" Before he could finish Felchio cut him off.
"Although you need to be careful. Another predator roams that area it was a creature that we had locked away for a while but with no one able to keep an eye on it. It got loose and is using the fungal distraction as a way to roam free."
Doric shook his head. "It's always something isn't it…"
Skia chimed up for a moment. "What kind of creature is it?"
The dwarf sighed. "It's called a Clawed Terror in these caves. A creature that lives deep in the caves and attacks anyone it comes across. It's very deadly its claws are long and hooked and it usually waits on cliffs and 'fishes' for prey."
Skia looked a little nervous at the thought of something fishing for them as they wandered around. Doric looked over to Nyssa who was already working hard to move but was still struggling. "How long until she is fully recovered?"
Felchio puckered his lips in thought. "I would say she should be good by tomorrow afternoon. If she pushes it now she might develop some long-lasting negative effects of improper healing."
Doric nodded and looked at his two companions. "Alright let's rest here for a bit and then when Nyssa is better we can begin our trek to the storage unit."
They both agreed and Nyssa sighed. "Sorry for being such a burden to you all. I wish I was better already."
Doric shook his head and tried to console her. "Not a problem at all, Nyssa. Just work on recovery. This gives me some time to see what else is in this town."
She smiled weakly and laid back down on the couch. Meanwhile, Doric decided to take a stroll through the town. As he left the house he saw out of the corner of his eye a glint of metal coming from the corner by a building and then a bright flash of light.