Illiana tossed a bolt of fire at a skeleton that raised a bow toward Barnaby. It went through the left eye socket of the grinning skull and exploded. Sans skull, the skeleton fell to the ground like a marionette with it’s strings cut.
“Nice shot!” Cinder grunted beside her as she stabbed a glowing arrow into the rib cage of bone dog that had tried to take the group from behind. In front, Barnaby whistled a cheery tune as his hammer cleaved through any skeleton that dared approach.
“Thanks!” Illiana said as she gritted her teeth in concentration as she mentally clawed the energy for more bolts from the depths of her soul. Breaking through the magical resistance of the salamander had put her on the edge of magical exhaustion. The bolts she could probably handle, but another big spell would be asking for a crippling migraine or worse.
The mob of skeletons seemed to be endless in this hallway. The only thing that prevented them from being completely mobbed was only two of them would stand abreast.
“Feel the justice that is K’arl the Just!” Barnaby cried, striking the skulls from two skeletons at once.
“We really need to find you some better catch phrases.” Cinder said as both she and Illiana fired projectiles over the knight’s shoulders. They staggered the next pair of skeletons allowing them all to take a few steps forward.
“Smiting evil is the only catch phrase I need!” Barnaby charged, slamming his shield into both skeletons before they could recover. They toppled into the fellows behind them, causing a domino effect.
“Ah ha! Smashing time!” Barnaby laughed, raised his hammer and prepared to charge.
“Wait!” Cinder leapt forward, grabbed the armored shoulder and yanked him back. Off balance, he stumbled backwards.
Inches in front of him the walls on either side of the hallway slammed together, pulverizing the hapless skeletons to bone dust.
“Well I’m not sure the backup plan would have brought you back from that one.” Illiana commented, patting the revival potion on her belt as the two stone pillars slowly inched apart.
“Now charge as soon as you can fit through before it resets fully.” Cinder said.
“What if there are more of those?” A touch of fear entering the knight’s voice.
“Unlikely. The archmage doesn’t seem to use the same trap twice. I’ll be watching for something to smash us from above tho.”
Illiana again marveled at Cinder’s skill at saving their collective asses. Every time she did that the butterflies in Illiana’s stomach got worse.
“Yes I shall too!” Barnaby said, resettling into his combat stance.
The trap seemed to take something out of the skeletons too, they almost seemed resigned to getting bashed by Barnaby’s hammer. Illiana wondered if the undead could… play dead? They reached the end of the hallway and it spilled into a wide open chamber, decorated with rubble. They stood on its threshold, pondering the danger that made Illiana’s hair stand on end. Squinting, she could just make out another door frame across it. Then two more on the sides. A compass point cross section.
Cinder however stared upwards at the black void above the room, no ceiling in sight.
“I don’t like it.” She said.
“Illiana can you float the light higher?” Barnaby asked.
“S-sure.” Illiana gestured to the little globe of light. I flew about ten feet into the air but its light utterly failed to penetrate the blackness above.
“Lets move along the wall and be cautious.” Cinder said.
Barnaby nodded, hoisted his shield and walked gingerly as he could in his rattling armor. He didn’t feel the half dozen strand of silk his movement broke. Once again, the eyes that peered down on them from the blackness was impressed with their caution and professionalism. The Knight walked just far enough from the wall so the less armored women could hug it. Nothing moved until a pillar of rumble forced them away from the wall.
The attack came blindingly fast but not from above, rather the center of the floor heaved upwards as a massive spider surged from under its trap door. Its body the size of an ox, its many legs the thickness of a mature trees. Two pairs of hooked claws grabbed hold of Barnaby’s shield, slamming it downward as the spider reared over it and drove glistening fangs scything down into his shoulder. With a scream, his hammer swung, shattering one fang.
The battle was joined. The spider shrank back, a dagger blooming in one of her black eyes. Yet it had been a long time since meat had wandered this far down and she counter with a wild spray of sticky webbing that trapped Cinder to the wall. Illiana spun away from the strands, the spell that she’d been holding in her mind flowing through her lips and weaving fingers. Planting her feet, the last scraps of her mana pooled in between her hands and then thrust them at the spider.
That moment was what Yaser had been waiting for, the eerily perceptive Cinder struggling to cut through webbing with a knife and while Illiana was totally focused.
As thunder and lightning flew out from Illiana’s hands and into the giant spider, Yaser dropped from the magical darkness that covered the ceiling. He plucked the swirling white and green potion from her belt. Then he booked it, beelining for the hidden door to his lady’s chamber.
Illiana immediately felt the pull on her waist as her lightning bolt scorched the spider’s head, causing several of its eyes to explode.
“Hey!” She shouted, catching sight of a short, black-cloaked figure running from her. Where the hell had that come from? “Pickpocket!”
“I see him!” Cinder shouted, a dagger appeared in the figure’s shoulder, it staggered but didn’t stop running.
The blinded spider gave a hissing shriek and charged in Illiana’s direction. She staggered back, wooziness making the world tilt and spin around her.
“Beast! I smite thee!” Barnaby cried.
Light bloomed and Illiana saw the runed hammer fly across her vision, smashing into the spider’s oncoming visage.
It crashed to the ground, skidding until its smoking head was within an arm’s length. Its one intact eye dim and sightless.