Ragnarok

Chapter 67 - Tunnels

The fighting had been intense ever since their party had descended into the winding tunnels beneath Yggdrasil. Most of the monsters that had emerged from the shadows seemed themselves to be part plant, covered in long thorns and strangling vines. Others were hideously oversized insects, with mandibles large enough to scissor a grown man in half and smooth carapaces that crunched beneath their weapons, spilling foul ichor that the black soil of the tunnels seemed to draw in eagerly.

The monsters reflected a general feeling of wrongness about the tree itself, a kind of decay that all of them could sense but none of them could quite find the words for. It showed in the roots that crawled along some of the passages, throbbing with a pulse as though they were an animal's veins and not part of a plant. It reeked from the clusters of barbed thorns that they had to carefully pick their way past. The massive bugs seemed to feed upon it, and were found most heavily near concentrations of the bloated roots. Some of the roots looked chewed on, leaking a sticky sap that probably served as a food source to the vermin when adventurers were scarce.

"This is one oppressive first level," Tempest noted at one point. They were taking a short breather after a rather intense mini-boss fight against a massive, carnivorous flower that had assaulted them with constricting vines and poisonous gas. "I mean, I understand it's supposed to be apocalyptic and all, but something about this just feels ... wrong."

The other V.I.s nodded along with her, even the silent Astrid. Tacitus was also nodding, and Ingrid seemed troubled as well. "You're right," she replied. "I felt the same thing the first time I came down here with my old party. Something about this dungeon just seems off from the rest of the game. Not sure what it is, but it's kinda off-putting."

Avril and Thorin looked at one another, and Thorin could tell Avril was thinking the same thing he was. This was more of Ragnarok's doing, no doubt. Either intentionally or simply by virtue of its alien nature, this world was being warped into something that the programmers had never intended. It was somewhat surprising that the game had not been taken fully offline until the alien code could be removed ... but then, they probably had more important things to worry about than fixing an online game, along with the rest of humanity.

After some more speculation, they had continued onwards, and if anything, that strange sense of unease only grew stronger after they had mentioned it. The insects in particular were getting more aggressive, and attacking in larger numbers. Some of them also began to show signs of mutation, with thorns sprouting from their exoskeletons and strange green glows behind their segmented eyes. At least their new healer seemed to have little difficulty in keeping up with their wounds, and Kitara seemed much more comfortable nuking bugs with fireballs than in trying to play nursemaid. She and Tacitus seemed to have a little friendly rivalry going, as they started shooting one another meaningful looks after a particularly well-placed lava eruption or lightning strike.

About ten minutes later, Ingrid called another halt, and started topping off everyone's health and re-casting her buffing spells. The party had stopped in front of an ominous-looking set of doors covered in foot-long thorns and more of the strangely pulsing vines, listening to the priestess' instructions. "The first boss is through here, and he's a doozy. It's a giant green wolf with two heads, and a toothy maw set in its chest with vines surrounding it, like some weird variation on Cerberus. It likes to snag people with them and try and drag them into its mouth, and if it manages to chomp down on you... well, you'd better hope they can drag your carcass out so I can resurrect you."

"So avoid the central mouth at all costs, got it," Tyrion nodded, rolling his shoulders to loosen himself up before the battle. "What about the two heads? Anything special about them?"

"If they start howling, do your best to stop them fast. It'll try and bring in reinforcements once it starts looking bloodied, and I've had enough of those filthy bugs already." She wrinkled her nose. "I hate those things, and I'm not even the one getting their bug-juice all over me. Ugh!" She scratched her chin, looking thoughtful. "I think that's all the advice I have to give. Avoid the vines, attack the wolf heads when they look like they're about to start howling, and if you're starting to flag, fall back towards me and let me know. I'll do my best to keep an eye on everyone, but, well, there's a lot of you, so make sure to say something if you're about to go down."

"Oh, trust me, you'll definitely hear plenty out of me if that happens," Tyrion replied, flashing a grin before he lowered his helmet back over his face. "Now then, let's neuter this puppy."