It was a long, uncomfortable, uncertain minute before Dandelion gently shrunk back to her normal size. "Ow, OW, ow, ow, ow," she moaned, first writhing in pain and then holding herself rigid when she saw the problem with that. "Brunhild, I need my drug bag, it's in my backpack."
"Now is not the time for your mind-altering substances," admonished Kaergat.
"Are you kidding?" moaned Dandelion. "Now is the PERFECT time for mind-altering substances. I wanna be light years away from here. Warped Fairytale, I need Warped Fairytale..."
"What's Warped Fairytale?" asked Brunhild.
"Some really sick shit. A mushroom that grows by the river Styx. The black one with the awful smell. Illegal everywhere except for Rinwash, which figures."
"Um," said Lacrie. She had been sitting in the lotus position, and just now opened her eyes, which glowed bright white. "I can lay on hands. It'll take longer than a battle spell, but it should do. Please don't take any substances until I'm done, Dandelion."
"Okay," said Dandelion, as Lacrie moved over to her and put her hands very gently on her ribcage. "Ow!" cried Dandelion. "Ow ow ow ow oooh oooooohhh..." A sleepy, peaceful expression came over her face. "Mmm... good stuff Lacrie..."
The others sat back in silence until Lacrie was done. It took perhaps ten minutes; by the end of it, a tangible sense of peace was in the air, and no one felt much like talking for a while.
"So," said Brunhild.
"So," said Kaergat in his strong dwarvish accent.
"How are you feeling, Dandelion?" asked Lacrie, her voice soft and echoing slightly, as if it was coming from far away.
"Like I was on ecstasy while chilling in a unicorn forest," Dandelion murmured.
"I assume that's a good thing," said Kaergat. "So... it seems like the rats in the cellar were brought in by this Hendrik person, yes? His little personal army of sorts."
"Makes sense," shrugged Brunhild.
"Hendrik was scared," said Kaergat, getting up and pulling away the crushed furniture from the wall. As he had guessed, behind the furniture was an old, rotten wooden door. In the bottom of the door was a hole big enough for Hendrik and his rats to have come through. The hole was rough; Kaergat imagined it had been gnawed open by rat teeth.
"What was he scared of?" asked Brunhild.
Kaergat crouched. His dwarf eyes could see water glimmering in the darkness beyond; the smell of sewer was unmistakable.
"Probably whatever did that to his arm," said Kaergat, pensively. Then he noticed Lacrie looking at her artifact tracker. It was pointing at the door.
"I'm scared," said Lacrie.

YOU ARE READING
Draconic Sphere Ω
FantasyBrunhild came to Aqua Profunda to escape the suffocating confines of dwarven clan and family life. There she found the adventurer's guild Feenschwanz, and new friends: Kaergat, also a dwarf and more to the point, an overly sober runic mage; and Dand...