Children of The Underground

Chapter 10: The Ghost and The Gunslinger

The corridor emptied into a vast atrium, with a domed ceiling that stretched several meters above the party's heads. Once again,  there were no stalactites or stalagmites, but instead smooth, rounded columns and arches, that seemed half grown and half carved from the cave's stone surface.

When they arrived, Vera turned off the lantern, extinguishing the bright yellow-orange. After all, there was plenty of light in the chasm.

Sticking out from the ground and the walls in odd angles was a forest of translucent white crystals, ranging from the size of a sword blade to the size of tree trunks. The crystals themselves didn't glow, but instead reflected and refracted the light from several pools of some strange, viscous liquid that glowed with bright blue light, like flames of burning alcohol. The pools of liquid were irregular ovals the size of bathtubs, dotting the chamber's floor every five or ten meters.

For a long time, the five people stared, transfixed by the chasm's ethereal beauty. The crystals refracted the eldritch blue light of the pools in odd angles, scattering it and refracting it until the room itself glowed. But although the pools of liquid shone with an almost inviting glow, there was something sinister about them. The light's alien, yet enticing glow seemed like the kind that issued from the sticky webs of glow worms, meant to lure unsuspecting insects to their deaths.

And perhaps, the vedmaks and the thaumaturge were the bugs to be lured.

"Nichego sobi," whispered Vera. This was a minced oath, like "darn" or "heck", rather than a curse, but even this weak utterance broke the group out of their reverie.

"Madam Thaumaturge," Lena began. "In our career as vedmaks, my husband Boris and I have seen our fair share of wonders, oddities, and dare I say aberrations. But in my experience, the first words one says are usually not 'nichego sobi'."

"More like vot govnishe." Boris interjected, a phrase whose best translation would be 'holy shit'.

Drazhek and Misha burst out laughing. Lena cocked her head at her husband, both amused and exasperated by his lack of subtlety.

"Darling, you rarely have an ear for subtlety. But that's why I like you."

Boris grunted with approval.

"Hey, Gunslinger," Misha called out from behind Boris, Lena, and Vera. "You want the stonethrower? I still got the old one you used. It's helped me and Smartass out for quite a while."

Drazhek grinned behind his gas mask. For some reason, he found this epithet had grown on him.

Boris shook his head.

"Magpie, this ain't the surface. In The Black Forest or in the mountains, you could walk two hundred paces without stepping on an anomaly. Down here, it's s'posed to be full of wild magical shit. It'd take forever to navigate with a stonethrower." While speaking, Boris opened up the breech of his thumper, and slid in what looked like a cylindrical canister. "It may not be elegant. It may not even be optimal. But sometimes, brute force is the simplest solution to your problems". Boris looked towards Vera, who nodded with approval. Lena turned back to her partners.

"Cover your ears," she said.

"Wha-" Drazhek began, but he was cut off immediately with a loud bang.

A shower of metallic ball bearings, each the size of a stone thrower's pebble, sprayed out of Boris's cannon, like the blast of a giant's blunderbuss. The blast was quiet, at least compared to a firearm, but in the confines of the cave, it made their ears ring.
The cloud of pellets didn't hit anything. In fact, the cloud passed through the crystals in its path...and reappeared out of other crystals, flying just as fast. The pellets kept disappearing and reappearing into crystals, teleporting wildly until the air was choked with a cloud of rushing ball bearings, buzzing around like angry steel hornets. Some of them dove into the pools of blue liquid, where they sizzled like acid. Others flew into the wall with a steadily loudening cracking sound.