Ragnarok

Chapter 70 - Nests

"Wasps," Tyrion was muttering to himself, "Why did it have to be wasps?"

The party was huddled in an archway, trailing back into the winding tunnel they had just came through. In front of them was a larger chamber than most, at least it seemed that way. The roof of the chamber was covered in a diffuse blue mist, which made it difficult to see the ceiling from where they were. It almost gave the impression of being out under the open air on a misty day, for all that they were deep within the bowels of the tree by this point.

Ahead of them, a path just wide enough to fit two people side-by-side wove from side to side between tall pillars of dry, papery material. To either side of the path was open air, and despite the glowing mist covering the ceiling, the light barely extended a few feet into the shadowy depths on either side. The pillars rising up out of the murk was what had Tyrion sweating bullets, as each of them was swarming with bloated wasps. Their drone filled the chamber with a maddening hum, but if the size and number of the pillars were any indication, only a tiny fraction of the hives were out of their nests at the moment. If there were any further threats, they were lost out of sight beyond the mist.

"Don't be such a baby, you haven't even seen a wasp in over a decade," Tempest hissed at him, eyeing the path ahead. Her dark face was impassive, but the tense way she held herself showed that even she was daunted by the idea of walking out among the swarm.

"Doesn't mean I don't remember how bad their stings hurt," Tyrion snapped back, fidgeting at his armor. "The summer before I got shipped up to the Moon, my folks and I went on a trip out into the country, to get away from the claustrophobic Domes for awhile. I found a wasps' nest and promptly got them pissed off at me. Half of my body was swollen by the time I was able to shake them off by jumping in a creek. My parents had to take me to a hospital, they messed me up so hard." He shuddered, looking bleakly out into the room.

"I didn't get this far in the last time I was here," Ingrid said, her forehead wrinkled in thought. "I remember hearing about this room, though. We'll have to make a hard sprint for the other side, not pausing for anything. There's a few mobs further in ..."

"If they're between me and safety, consider them already knocked into the hole," Tyrion growled.

Ingrid nodded. "I can offer us some protection while we're running, but if we slow down and the swarm catches up to us, they'll overwhelm me pretty fast." She looked over at Kitara, who nodded and started casting her Wind's Blessing spell on the slower members of their party, including the still grumbling Tyrion. Ingrid closed her eyes and an aura of white light surrounded first her, then each of the party members in turn. Once the light passed from them, it left a glowing rune of protection somewhere on their person, mostly upon the chest or upper arm.

"Alright, if we're going to do this," Tyrion said, visibly willing himself forward despite his fear. "We go on three, ready? One ... two ... THREE!"

With a surge of clattering steel, Tyrion leaped forward onto the path, followed shortly by Tempest and the rest of the party, running single-file at top speed. The wasps clinging to the sides of their papery pillars took flight, agitated by the noise of intruders, and a few tried to investigate closer. Those who got too close found their efforts frustrated by the runes, and soon they retreated back towards their hives, to summon reinforcements. From within the pillars, the drone of vibrating wings grew louder.

"Double time, everyone!" Avril shouted, as she and Lilith both took flight, clearing more space for the landbound people to run. "They've spotted us, and they don't sound happy!"

As if in answer, a black cloud of wasps erupted from the first two pillars, which most of the party had already passed in their sprint for the opposite end. The swarm shifted for a moment, as if searching for its prey, and in an unusual display of protectiveness, Lilith let loose with a blast of fire at the buzzing swarm. It seemed to recoil, dozens of wasps sizzling to a crisp and plummeting into the depths below, but soon the dead were replaced tenfolk, and the swarm bulleted towards her.

"I've got them on my tail!" the succubus shouted, wheeling in the air and then shooting off at top speed into the chamber, followed by an enraged black mass of insects. Avril followed suit, trying to keep enough distance between the two that the swarms couldn't combine into an even greater mass. At least the two fliers were attracting most of the wasps' attention, which meant that Ingrid's protection runes were still holding strong.

There was a shout and an inhuman scream from further into the mist, and Avril caught a glimpse of some twisted half-man, half-plant creature plummeting into the shadows. Tyrion had been true to his word, and he was not slowing down for any monster that tried to stand in his way. With her sharp elven eyes, she was able to make out another of the creatures further ahead. She launched an orb of lightning at it, causing it to convulse and drop the spear it had been ready to impale Tyrion with. There was a loud clang and this one, too, went flying off to one side.

Avril dove and weaved around the large, papery columns, trying not to notice how the volume of wasps behind her continued to swell as they went along. The far end was still nowhere in sight, and a blast of lightning sent into her wake only seemed to enrage the mass of wasps even further. Hundreds were fried by her blast, but there were thousands of them boiling out of the pillars, and they continued after her with mindless, insectile abandon.

Come at me then, Avril thought viciously to herself. We'll see if you can outrun the lightning.