Help from the Enemy

Navigating the maze of rope bridges and honeycombed corridors was slow work. We had to double back twice in the past hour to avoid bridges with large sections of missing slats. I wish that option were available now, I thought as I peered at our two options across the chasm. Vines choked the right bridge and obscured the cave entrance on the other side. The left bridge held half a dozen will-o’-wisps. There was enough lightning in the air from their furious sparking to make my hair rise up from my scalp. Behind me, I could hear Rhegar and Kyri arguing about the merits of turning back once again but I ignored them as I watched the balls of light drift across the bridge, counting in my head.

I crouched on the cliff edge and used the bridge ropes to brace myself as I leaned out over the edge to watch the will-o’-wisps on the bridge below. A minute or so of watching their movements confirmed my suspicions. I pulled myself up and called Vixi over to my side. “I think the will-o’-wisps are patrolling a territory.” I said, explaining my theory. “Watch the one on the end of the bridge below us. It doesn’t drift onto the last 3 feet of the bridge.” The tiefling knelt down and my previous position. A few moments later she turned her gold eyes to me. “You are correct. It won’t go past the tenth slat.” She ran a hand through violet hair to calm the static as she stood. “How does that help? The bridges aren’t wide enough to avoid their territory.” Before I could lay out my plan, Garn threw a climbing kit at the warlock’s feet. “It means that if we time it right, we can climb down and avoid the wisps all together.” He looked at me sheepishly. “Sorry, I was listening in.” I waved off his apology as the rest of the Order gathered around to hear the new proceedings.

Thank you, Kord, for the hours of training that just allowed me to climb down eighteen feet of rope onto a three foot section of bridge dangling over a bottomless abyss, I prayed as my feet hit the bridge work. I gave Markas the go ahead to start down the rope. Straightening my gear, I leaned against the stone archway and waited for my party to reassemble.

When everyone had caught their breath and Garn had collected his climbing kit, we went down the next passage. Pleased with my own cleverness, I found myself humming an old song my father would sing as he repaired fishing nets. Though his record be dark, is the man-eating shark, who will eat neither woman nor child. I was snapped out of my happy revive by a several short grunting screams followed by a sucking sound. Vixi thrust the torch forward and Kalena rushed to relight the orb on her staff.

The three of us were horrified to see the remainder of our party floating in a wobbling blue-green mass. “I thought gelatinous cubes were just a joke made up by Father Cerance.” I said bewildered by the sight before my eyes. “Come on, we’ve got to get them out of that thing,” said Kalena as she launched a magic missile at the shimmering goo. It shuddered and Rhegar plopped onto the corridor floor on the opposite side of the tidy mass of protoplasm. Seeing the other three struggling to free themselves from the fiend of little shape, I prayed to Kord in hope that he would lend his strength to our attacks. I felt the blessing settle over my comrades as I struck a golden lance of faith across the cube.

“Where in the name of the platinum dragon did you come from?” I heard Rhegar roar. Through the watery mass of the cube I could see him pulling a javelin from his thigh. He was still swearing when a javelin connected with my own side. It bounced off my chainmail but I could feel the start of a bruise nonetheless. A tall purple orchid standing behind a giggling sapling was the last thing I saw before the pink pollen settled over me.

I opened my eyes to find myself in Farport. A smiling dragonborn female ran down the docks toward me. She scooped me into her arms and twirled me in her arms shouting, “Taviramindra! You haven’t changed a bit.” She set me back down on my feet only to be pulled into a hug by a dark-skinned half-elf. “How have you been Tavia? Keeping Farport safe, I hope.” “Better now that you’re back. I do hope you kept Cora out of trouble Caling, though I guess you must have since she is back in one peace.” I pulled them both into a hug, happy to see my best friends after years of separation. Grabbing their hands I pulled them toward shore. “I have so much to tell both of you about the Order of the Rampant Dragon and the battle with Tiamat.”

The pair pulled up short and exchanges meaningful glances. Stepping forward he took my hand and gave me a gentle look. “Tav, sweetie, Merrab told us what happened. You were on a ship bound for Aurincia that got caught in a hurricane. A fishing crew picked you up on an island two months ago. There was never any Order.” Tears welled up in my eyes as I searched his face for a sign he was joking. “But I was there with Garn and Kalena and Vixi and Markas and-“ “Shhh,” said Cora, wrapping an arm as tears slid down my cheeks.

I felt a tear splash onto the back of my hand and my eyes snapped open to reveal a corridor filled with a tower of mucus. I shook my head to clear the hallucination. I could feel a headache coming on, a nasty after effect from the pollen. Part of me was shocked to at what I had been imagining. Would I really rather have made up the whole thing? No. It doesn’t matter. Think on it later, I chided myself. Ignoring the lingering feeling of Cora’s arm on my shoulders, I took in the situation.

Markas had escaped from the cube, a sapling taking his place inside the acidy mass. Well that’s fortunate. At least it isn’t set on eating the seven of us. The two paladins had managed to get the vine creatures between themselves and the cube. It was good planning on their part. If the quivering mass wanted to get at the half-elf and the dragon born, it would need to scoop up the saplings first. The sapling inside the cube dived out, tackling the orchid to the floor in the process. Kyri now stood in the hallway with Vixi, Kalena and I. Behind me the purple orchid cracked a long whippy vine but I deflected with my quarterstaff. The javelins from her minions went wide.

By my side I could see Vixi pulling in power from the feywild spirits in the cave. Essences flowed from the rock wall, from the vines and lichens, even from the will-o’-wisps on the bridge behind us. Her blue-violet hair streamed in an unblown wind and her eyes glowed in the dim light. She unleashed the energy and the cube shuddered violently. So powerful was her attack that the cube tumbled backward, engulfing the tangled orchid and sapling in its path. Now that is how turn a bad situation in our favor.

Markas and Rhegar launched a simultaneous attack on the gelatin wall. The brutality of the attack allowed Garn to finally slip from its confines and he tumbled onto the floor, dripping with slime. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kalena shaking her head clear. Stepping forward I formed powerful prayer on my lips in hopes of healing my exhausted cohorts. The holy symbol on my chest glowed briefly before releasing a pure white light. I felt my spell giving the healing prayer I uttered for Garn an extra boost.

Still in her enchanted state, Vixi pushed the cube forward again. It engulfed the sapling but Markas bounced off the taut surface. The plant girl managed to pull herself from the goo but her back half dissolved before she was completely free. The flowery vines around her face withered as she collapsed on the floor. Inside the ghastly thing, one of the saplings broke into pieces. The cube itself had lost some of its shape. It leaned toward the paladins, looking more like a rhombus than a cube of death. Kyri fired two arrows into its depth. With a final blow from Markas’s flail, the ghastly extruded shape became nothing more than a neutralized puddle on the cavern floor. He shouted a blessing to the Raven Queen and I could see some of the color return to the half-elf’s cheeks.

Now that the cube had been dealt with, the party rushed forward to deal with the remaining three saplings. Garn delivered a breath of ice to freeze their retreat. Despite having been hit by two javelins, Kalena reinforced the dragonborn’s attack with a cold spell of her own that took out the orchid sorceress. One of the saplings escaped through the vines, but two arrows prevented the last minion from going very far.

Weakly we searched through the mess of plant parts and slippery goo. The vines covering the female saplings turned out to be functional light armor suitable for our more mobile types. We stripped the bodies continuing down the passageway. Exhausted, we didn’t travel far. Across the next bridge we discovered another carved room and holed up to recover our strength.