Two hours of cutting their way through the Gray Stone Hollows later, Hazel, Mia, and Ash discovered the first grim hints that Ash’s theories weren’t unfounded: that the team that had gone missing was, indeed, related to the black crystal infection.

They discovered it through a gruesome display: blood, carnage, the corpses of monsters, and discarded weapons. Ash knelt next to a sword, her face pale. She looked the blade over, face hardening as she confirmed her suspicion. “This is my brother’s.” She gripped the weapon, knuckles turning white. Her eyes turned to a different discarded weapon, a morning star. “And this has to be Octavia’s. This was them.”

Hazel and Mia took in the room, not as emotionally affected by the scattered indicators of a fight. Hazel’s heart ached for Ash, and her missing brother’s team, but she had no actual links to them. She hoped she could help, and the possibility of their death did worry her, but not like it did Ash. Even Ash herself was someone Hazel had only just met.

Among the weapons, blood, and obvious signs of a fight—gouges in walls, cracked stalagmites, scuffs on the floor—black crystal covered the ground, walls, and ceiling. And covered the monster corpses. Especially the monster corpses. One particularly large severed limb drew her eyes. An arm. Furry, with a hand at the end. Apelike.

“So they were taken?” Hazel asked.

“Or eaten,” Ash grunted. “But only their weapons are here. Not them. Or their armor. So that’s something.”

“Why are monsters collecting people?” Mia asked. “Then entombing them in that crystal? What’s the point?”

“If I had to guess, nothing good,” Ash said.

A safe assumption.

“Is it a result of the infection?” Mia asked. “The crystal makes them want to—what, spread the infection? Would people do the same if left long enough in their cocoon? Is it a virus?”

Ash seemed unsettled. She’d been in that ‘cocoon’ herself. “At least we have a sign, now,” she said. She scooped up the scattered items and dropped them into her inventory. She had a weapon, now. Her brother’s sword. She wouldn’t be limited to her fists. “Better captured than dead. Or missing forever. Closure, one way or another.”

“That’s true,” Mia said carefully, watching Ash with worry. “But it’s been much longer for them. Days. Approaching a week. Depending on what the ‘corruption’ is, what it does …” she trailed off, not willing to spell it out explicitly.

Ash grunted. “I’m not an idiot.”

“We’ll do our best, then,” Mia said. “I have a feeling it won’t be long. We’re approaching a—a nest, if I had to guess, seeing how much denser the crystal is growing. And now this.” She gestured at the signs of a fight.

The party of three looked down the tunnel, sprawling forward into the darkness. A nest. Hazel shivered. There were good odds that whatever they found could be the end of their adventure. To Hazel’s new life. But she wouldn’t abandon Mia, and the succubus had her mind set on helping Ash. That selflessness had saved Hazel not a full day earlier, but it also might bring her—both of them—to an abrupt finish.

***

Another hour later, they found their quarry.

There was good news and bad news.

First, the good news: they had found Ash’s brother. And his team. And more than just them, too—at least ten individuals in total. All plastered to the wall of the small cavern, glued down by black crystal in an identical manner to how they’d found Ash.

Ash might have been the first to a new collection, the beginning of a nest like this one. But this grim, infested cavern was established. How long had the others been trapped here? Ash’s brother for nearly a week, but the rest? More than a week? Less?

What had the ‘corruption’ done to them? Ash might have escaped injury since she’d only been trapped for a handful of hours, but these people? Surely the damage would be more comprehensive. But they didn’t know what the ‘damage’ was, yet. What the corruption did. For that matter, it was possible Ash was affected, and they simply didn’t know how.

The bad news, they discovered on sneaking into the cavern, was that the captured adventurers weren’t the only occupants.

They’d been able to free Ash without intervention from her capturer, but that wouldn’t be the case here. Wardens prowled about, not one, but three of the hulking beasts. They were simian in appearance, but massive, taller than her by at least a few feet, and their bodies were packed with muscle that rippled through gray and black fur. Two gigantic fangs jutted down from their snarling maws, and a pair of horns twisted out of their skulls, black and curling in a grotesque way—monstrous and demonic protrusions.

Of the three ape-like creatures, two were much larger than the third, as if two vicious parents and their child.

 

 

Apart from the captured adventurers and the monsters guarding them, there was one more item of note. The pillar of black crystal in the center of the room. The dark material had been growing increasingly common as they adventured deeper into the dungeon, but in this cavern, it was thick and encrusted onto nearly every surface. It culminated in a pillar, a giant joined stalagmite and stalactite in the center of the open space, and the black crystal seemed to pulse with energy. With power. It was different than the rest—almost alive.

The source?

Or a source?

No description. Just a name.

The spire radiated power through the room. Hazel’s skin crawled just looking at it. Alien. And not in the way of the rest of this new world. Truly alien. Something that didn’t belong. Maybe anywhere.

They had made it to the cavern without alerting the wardens. Though large and powerful-looking, the ape monsters guarding—and collecting—adventurers didn’t seem to be especially aware. Patting Hazel on the shoulder, Mia gestured for them to pull away. They needed to talk about what they'd seen. Their plan.

"What the hell is going on?" Ash hissed as soon as they were safely away. "The fuck is that? Lesser Spire of Corruption?"

"We expected something of the sort,” Mia said, sounding calm, if troubled.

"And they're making a nest,” Ash continued incredulously. “You were right about that. Or, whatever the hell that place is. There’s gotta be a dozen people in there.”

“Ten,” Hazel said. She’d counted.

“What the fuck."

"I doubt this is the only Spire," Mia said. "Where there’s Lessers, there’s likely Greaters. Or more." She shook her head. "But that's not for us to worry about. We'll report this … infestation to the Guild, and they'll handle it. I’ve no clue what it is, but it’s beyond our pay grade. The real question is—how are we handling this? Rescuing your brother, and the rest."

“We kill those disgusting things,” Ash said. “Then you go cure everyone.” Her brow furrowed. “You’ll have enough juice for that, right? And will cooldown be a problem?” She cursed. “You’ll need to save your mana, won’t you? So you’ll be limited in the fight. Makes this even trickier. A level ten, a level eight, and a five. What’re our odds, you think?”

Mia didn’t explain her secondary resource to Ash—that her mana and Ecstasy weren’t linked directly. Hazel supposed she herself didn’t know how it worked either, and whether the succubus had enough Ecstasy to cleanse all ten trapped individuals. It would be awkward to have to help Mia refill. While that experience had been—well, fun, to put it lightly—the seriousness of this situation had escalated to the point Hazel didn’t think she would be able to enjoy another round. She was worried for Ash, her brother, and the other adventurers.

“It’s doable,” Mia said. “I’ll have the mana. But only just. We’ll need to be smart about it.”

Ash shifted impatiently from foot to foot. Having found her brother, she was understandably anxious. The grotesque sight of the Spire had also unnerved her, as it had all of them. Her eyes flicked down the tunnel, toward the infested cavern. She wanted to be on with it, to throw herself into the fight and pull her brother from the corrupted crystal that was eating away at him. But antsy and seemingly brash as she might be, she recognized a plan was necessary.

“Can you charm one?” Hazel asked. From what she’d seen in the Courtyards, [Charm] had been Mia’s best skill. Ruby, the red-scaled snake she’d taken control of, had been crucial to fighting the miniboss.

The miniboss. That had been level five. These were ten, eight, and five. Even knowing minibosses were stronger than regular monsters, and so were Rift creations than those found in the regular dungeon, the opposition they faced was daunting. Especially because those ape-like creatures didn’t seem like easy foes even for their level. Hulking and vicious, the guardians of a Lesser Spire, Hazel knew in the best case, they were in for a close fight.

She didn’t think Mia was suicidal, so she believed the succubus thought they could come out on top. Otherwise she would cut her losses, altruistic tendencies or not. Or at least try to talk Ash out of it.

“I can,” Mia said. “But not the level ten. Maybe the eight. I’ll need it subdued. Injured.”

“How much?” Ash asked.

“Decently.”

“Could you capture the weakest one straight off?” Hazel asked. That was what Mia had done to the level five snake.

“Yes, but we shouldn’t,” Mia said. “Better to use it on the bigger one. An injured level eight would be more use than the level five.”

“Would it?”

“Because it also takes the level eight out of the fight,” Mia said pointedly. “It’s not just about how much use the familiar is.”

Ash grunted. “Fair point.”

“We could wait for one of them to leave?” Hazel suggested. “Or all of them. Maybe the cavern will clear out.”

“I’m not sitting around,” Ash said instantly. “We don’t know how much longer they have.”

“And as much as one of them leaving,” Mia said, “another could return. We don’t know if three is their total.”

“None of them had a missing arm,” Hazel said. “And we saw one in that fight against Ash’s brother.”

“Exactly.”

“Or it’s dead,” Ash said. “Or regrew the limb.” She grunted. “But probably not. Good catch.”

“So, our chances are as likely to get worse as they are to get better,” Mia said. “And we can win the fight as things stand, so we should move now.”

Hazel wrinkled her nose. What other tactics could she come up with? “How about freeing some of the adventurers? Ash came out mostly lucid. They might be able to help us if you cleanse them.”

“We don’t know their level, or whether they’ll be in as good condition as Ash,” Mia said. “Or what advanced ‘corruption’ does. And finally, it’d give up our element of surprise. So I don’t think it’s worth it.”

“Fair,” Hazel said. “Then …” She chewed her lip. “Can we talk real quick?” She gestured away, implying she wanted to give her next idea to Mia alone.

Mia tilted her head, glanced at Ash, then nodded. “One second,” she told Ash. Ash didn’t seem bothered. Mia and Hazel departed, buying a moment of privacy.

“[Skill Edit] is pretty stretched,” Hazel said, “but I can probably do something small. Something super specific, that arguably makes the skill worse—but tunes it into something we can use now. Like, uh, what we did with your other skill. Then we can change it back later.”

“You have an idea.”

“Can we make your [Charm] only work against [Ambling Ironfurs], but with a higher success rate? Maybe you can snag one of the big ones without us needing to weaken it first. It’d turn the fight into a four versus two. I like our odds better that way.”

Mia considered the possibility, then shook her head in incredulity. “Such a ridiculous skill,” she said. “And you’re right, of course. That would be a massive help. Now that you’ve brought it up, though, is there any other use of the skill that would be even better?”

“I figure charm is our best bet.”

She thought it over, then nodded slowly. “I think so too.” They didn’t have time to stand around and brainstorm all day. She looked over her shoulder, to where Ash was stewing anxiously, arms crossed as she glared into the tunnel’s darkness. She didn’t seem upset that Hazel had pulled Mia aside, but she did send a curious glance their way.

“Here,” Mia said, tapping the air—and summoning a system screen. “Let’s do it. Get it over with. Better to engage now than later. We don’t want extra company.”