Breaking the Rules Pt. 07

"Told you to be careful, Tusa," Nuru puffed. "OK... what now?"

"Now we sic it on a bear."

"Tusa? There a bear around here?" Nuru said.

[Not close]

"Can you bring it back here? Just get it to chase you, don't kill it yourself and drag it."

"Never you mind. I'll just bring this with us," Dayo said, throwing down some heavy earth runes. "Besides, it'll give me a minute to prepare our deflection at Jabu."

The wight sank into the soil, thrashing wildly. Suddenly it found itself immobilized as the ground hardened up again.

"Whew," Dayo said, dematerializing the staff.

"Suddenly I feel really foolish trying to sleep next to one of these with just a fence in between," Nuru said.

"You've got sensible people around to help straighten you out," Dayo winked. "Don't be like a regular man and ignore us."

"I promise you, I won't."

As they waited a few minutes, Dayo used their scythe to carve a symbol into the skull-smashed wight's back, and finally a distant crashing sound started coming their way.

"Not a gentle slithery creature, is it?" Nuru said.

"At that size in the forest, no way. It's pretty quiet itself, but the underbrush and dead branches in the way are not. In the plains where it usually lives it's about what you'd expect."

A giant yellow-brown snake meandered up to Dayo and laid its head quietly at their feet. Dayo gestured at the trapped wight, and then went around behind it and whacked it on the head with the staff. It drooped, stunned. The snake slowly advanced, rumbling with something inside. It reared up and spat a glob of sticky wet membrane, which draped across the wight like a blanket.

"Not the first time you've done this, huh?" Nuru said.

"Nor the last, probably."

The wight thrashed some more, but only got tangled up in the membrane, and then the snake opened its jaw wide and caught the whole wight in its mouth. Dayo threw earth runes down again, and the earth softened enough for the snake to uproot the wight and swallow it whole, followed by the prepared wight corpse. They followed Tusa to higher ground, where a stream ran. Fish jumped up out of the water occasionally.

"Uh... bear?" Nuru said.

"Hunting grounds," Dayo said. "They'll often be seen here. Right?"

Tusa peered around carefully, then approached the stream, sniffing around. His head came up, ears flicking this way, and that. With a growl, he dashed through the water to the other side. Dayo Shadow Walked from one tree at the water's edge almost the whole way across where the shadow fell, but Nuru had to swim the distance.

"At least I float if I turn the drum face-down," he said, shaking himself off.

Waddling awkwardly with wet clothes, he followed the others as they closed in on a den.

"Stay clear of the cubs... Tusa! Are you listening to me!?" Dayo called.

But Tusa darted between the bear and her cubs, eliciting an angry roar and a Maternal Instincts buff.

"Gods damn it all..." Dayo muttered.

"He told me he does things his own way," Nuru said. "We'll just have to improvise."

Dayo called the diresnake to spit up the wight, ripped open the now-dried but not-yet-hardened membrane holding it with the scythe blade, and then made the blade vanish. The wight clumsily got to its feet, and Dayo led it with the staff's loop between the cubs and the mother bear, which turned and got a debuff strike right to the face. The bear stood up on his hind legs and let out an ear-splitting bellow. It was not easy for Tusa to hit; the lyena was outmatched by weight, and the bear had a reach advantage as well as the defensive bonus. Nevertheless, between he and the wight they continued getting hits in, until Dayo pulled the wight back just shy of the bear's death. Dayo trapped the wight in the ground with an earth rune, and Tusa harried the retreating bear until Dayo Shadow Walked and gave it an Arcane Blast followed by a hop to the side and sinking the scythe blade in the bear's flank. It fell over, moaning in pain, and Dayo sank the scythe into its shoulder, holding the arm out of the way for Tusa to jump in and rip out its throat.

"Mesi's not going to be happy that I killed a mother," Dayo huffed, finishing off the wight from the staff's safe swinging distance, then getting the snake to swallow it again.

"So why did we?"

"First of all, somebody engaged before I was ready. Secondly... this is the bear species that will attack people without warning or provocation, so I don't feel bad."

Tusa growled, still dripping blood from his jaws.

[Nature does not care about your sensibilities. Death is part of the cycle.]

"That doesn't mean the sensibilities don't matter," Nuru said.

[Also, you can hardly be upset with me for following the plan. This was what you intended.]

"Eh... I suppose that's true. You said we need a bear, we've got a bear," Nuru said.

"I'm not saying it was wrong," Dayo said. "I'm just saying Mesi won't like it. But I will tell her the cubs are old enough that they can live on their own, and she'll be able to move past it once she has paid enough respect with her tears. Also, I did not hear about your need to do things in your own way until just now, Tusa. That was not Jaheem's way, but we'll manage from here. Thank you for your help."

The lyena gave a brief victory cry, then stalked away to hunt, head held high.

"OK. Now what? What else needs doing?" Nuru said.

"Now...!Ba Da Rai!" the valkyrie said, dripping heavy purple goo from her lantern and reviving the bear, which stumbled clumsily to its feet and stared blindly off into the distance. "...Now, we go invade a stronghold."

*****

"This is insane, you realize that," Nuru said.

"Says the guy who's being hunted for fleeing the Home Town gated area without the mandatory faction affiliation," Dayo said.

"Yeah, and if I'm saying it's crazy, that should tell you something."

"Follow my lead. It'll be fine. Worst case, we get thrown out without your new shirt."

"Oh, I'm still in. I'm just saying."

"Ssh. Let me make sure this is the right place."

They crept forward towards the gate; Dayo listened intently.

Someone was whistling.

"Hey. Stop that," another person said over it.

The whistling continued, then the whistler broke into song.

o/` BROTHERS OF THE MINE REJO- o/`

CLANG

"Ow, my knee! Same team, bro!"

"I don't have a bow to put an arrow in your knee, but I swear to Eyamba if you sing that diggy dig song again, I'm making sure you never adventure for the rest of your life."

"Come on, it's a great song. Everybody loves it."

"Not three times a day, every single day, they don't."

"They heard us all the way at the next outpost through the tunnels. Everybody was singing it."

"Why do you think you got guard duty today, hmm?"

"Cuz somebody's got to do it."

"No. I mean, yeah, somebody's got to do it, but there's other people who have nothing better to do than stand around out here. Instead, they picked you, and it's because they don't want you distracting everyone with some-"

o/` I AM A DWARF AND I'M DIGGIN A HO- o/`

CLANG THUD

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Don't oppress me, it's the song of our people!"

"You're not even a dwarf, you asshole, you're just a short human tryin' ta fit in!"

"So I'm vertically challenged, can you blame me? I picked the right faction, clearly. You're my people now."

"Hoi! You two, shut up! Ye're on guard duty, not cleanin' potatoes! Although I kin arrange that instead if ye wanna complain," a new voice put in.

"It was his fault!" number two said.

"I said shut it! Ears that way!"

"...yep, this is it," Dayo smirked. "Ready? Follow my lead."

"Let's do it," Nuru nodded.

"Oh good lord, what is that!?" one of them said, looking up at the bear charging directly towards them. "Signal the alarm!"

The other guard pulled a rope handle, ringing a bell. A portcullis dropped in the entryway before the bear arrived to slam into it hard enough to shake dirt and dust and chips of rock from the ceiling. The ward activated, glowing with debuffs and sapping HP.

Dayo aimed their staff at the ground and a small barrage of insects poured out and sat quietly, glistening a translucent purple in the sunlight. They took a deep breath.

"Aaaaugh! Help, they're everywhere!" the valkyrie called out, breaking into a sprint towards the small side gate which could barely fit a single person through at a time. They passed another ward there, which had finished slowly linking to the ward in the middle, feeding it energy and not switching back fast enough to affect Dayo and Nuru as they both slipped by.

"Wha- hey, who goes there? Hey, stop!" one of the guards called from a protected vantage as they approached.

"Hide! Run for your life!" Nuru cried, following.

"Hide from - what the hell is all that? Oh, gods below!" one of the guards said.

A small swarm of hornets slipped in the viewport ahead of the pair.

"Kill it! Kill them all you fool!" the other said.

"Ack! I can't, they're too small!"

"Hey, watch where you're swinging!"

"I told you, they're everywhere!" Dayo cried, dodging this way and that around the frenzied guards coming to reinforce, as the insects followed behind in greater numbers.

The small cloud grew behind them, bees and flies buzzing all over the place, which in the torchlight towards the back looked more black than purple, and convincingly alive.

"They're still coming!" Dayo yelled. "This way!"

Nuru followed deeper into the structure as the bear hit the portcullis with metallic scrapes and thunks that echoed through the cavern.

"Oh, gods, is it- the bear's digging a hole underneath!"

"Want it to sing that song for you?"

"Not the time, shaddap! Get the heavies up here and take that thing out. Close the side gate! Don't let anybody else in here!"

The angry roar blasted through the cavern, making Nuru dizzy and almost fall over. All the people, dwarves mostly but not all, stopped to stare, some of them dropping whatever they were carrying.

"Shit! We're under attack for real!"

"Run! Secure the checkpoints!"

"There's bugs everywhere, where did they come from!?"

"We're dooooooomed!"

"We're not doomed, we'll just drop the ceiling if we have to and exit through the next station over."

"Tell that to the insects! They're gonna beat us there!"

Dayo and Nuru ran screaming down the hallways, followed by a thick swarm of insects that swept in behind them like a wave. Dayo gestured left and right, and some of the swarm broke away to attack individuals directly, making them drop their weapons and shields and run around in a panic. They reached a checkpoint and waved at the guards.

"Hey! Hey, shut the gate! No, wait until we're through, then-" Dayo said as they bolted through. "Thank the gods, I think we're... No! There's more of them! They're already here!"

More insects swarmed from the staff which puffed in and out of existence.

"Aaaaugh! What do we do, what do we do!?" one of the guards said.

"Don't panic! Stay in formation-"

But it was too late. The guards at the checkpoint broke ranks and ran in different directions, swatting at the buzzing pursuers, and opening the gate which only let more of the swarm through rather than opening an escape path. Dayo skidded to a halt at one corner, pointed their staff around it, and muttered something. Another stream of flying nuisances led the way, leaving guards standing around but too busy to pay much attention to Nuru and Dayo dashing by. Clanks and metallic groans floated from behind them.

"Here! The gallery!" Dayo hissed, ducking sideways from the hall into a greatroom. "Get ready to search!"

"Hey- you can't be in here," a factioner said once they ran in.

"Shut it shut it oh gods they're coming shut it now!" Dayo babbled.

"What's coming?" a dwarf in fine clothes said.

"Oh gods there was a re-bear and then this giant cloud of fangs and insects and I don't know what else!"

"Ssh, shh. It's OK. Nothing's coming in here. We've barred the doors."

"Oh praise the gods I thought I was done for!" Dayo collapsed, making a fairly good impression of sobbing in relief.

"There, now, it's alright. We've got some mighty fine water-powered defenses; no doubt they've got the javelins ready to fire any moment now. Once the hooks are set, they'll pull the chains tight and the bear will be no trouble at all. Then it's just a case of hosing everything down with water and washing it into the underground river. It'll be like nothing ever happened. See here, you're safe now."

"Wait... you..."

Dayo motioned Nuru to come closer.

"Under...ground?" Dayo said, eyes going wide. "Where... where did you lead me?"

"Yes, this is a cave, the most secure structure in the whole World Map," the dwarf said. "Good choice, bud."

"But... I... oh gods I can't be here," Dayo said, starting to breath heavily. "I... I feel faint... I can't breathe... I told you I'm afraid of being trapped!"

Nuru just watched the valkyrie, wide-eyed like everyone else.

"YOU TOLD ME IT WOULD BE SAFE!" they shrieked. "YOU KNOW I CAN'T GO UNDERGROUND I'M DEATHLY AFRAID!"

"It was the only place nearby!" Nuru protested, trying to get into the spirit of things.

"WHY DID YOU LIE TO MEEE-HEEEE-HEEE OH GODS I'M GONNA DIE UNDERGROUND I JUST KNOW IT!"

"But-!" Nuru said.

One of the guards shooed him away. "Better give her some space, mate."

Nuru slunk away, feeling chastised despite knowing it was all an act. He browsed quickly through the gallery; there were a number of treasures in cages for viewing. Dayo blubbered by the door quite convincingly as Nuru slipped quickly from one to another, looking for something that matched the description. Then, suddenly, there was no doubt. Sparing a quick glance behind, he took a quick look at how the fine embroidered shirt was fastened to the display stand before snatching it up and, with only a moment's hesitation, closed the cage that had been left open, to make it look like maybe it had been missing before he got there. He folded and stuffed the shirt carefully into his pack, making sure none of the colors peeked out of the drawstring-held opening, and then quietly returned and sat down on the floor near the others by the door. Dayo was considerably calmer, and was accepting the attentions of the dwarf with the fine clothing, letting him dab any potential tears away that weren't really running down their face, and was smiling and softly joking. The valkyrie looked over at Nuru, and he patted his pack, nodding subtly.

"Listen, I hate to go all Rules Lawyer on you, but you really can't be here," the finely-dressed dwarf was saying.

"Oh gods... thank you all so much, I was just so overwhelmed... Not you, asshole. You dragged me in here, now you need to take me home right this instant." Dayo glared at Nuru, and he shrank inwards under the force of it.

"O- okay," he said quietly. "If you're ready to leave-"

"YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT I'M READY, GET ME OUT OF HERE! Bye guys! Thanks for making me feel better," Dayo said, shifting into a more flirty tone of voice and giving a small wave to the men while turning to go. The door cracked open. "OH GODS THERE'S MORE OF THEM, THEY'RE STILL EVERYWHERE! DAMN CULTISTS!"

More insects swarmed through the open door from the end of Dayo's staff, and then Nuru and Dayo were both running back the way they'd come in, dodging water sprays from the ceiling along with all the hastily-discarded mining equipment and other tools that littered the floors. They got back to the front entrance where indeed, the re-bear was breathing its final last whilst suspended from the floor by a number of javelins attached to chains pulled through the walls, with the portcullis back up.

"!Babba Rai Magudana!" Dayo said, pulling the soul out of the bear as they ran past. It deflated in a gout of steam.

"Hey... hey! What did you do?" one of the guards called after them.

"Made sure Jabu doesn't get it back!" Dayo called back over their shoulder.

"Halt! Get back here! We need to talk," the guard captain said.

"Oh, fresh air, I thought I'd never see you again!" Dayo said dramatically, holding their arms out in front of them. "Ack! Watch out for the hornets!"

One last bunch of insects swarmed out and flew in towards the guard captain as Dayo pointed their staff. The dwarf broke off pursuit and turned and dashed through one then another spray of water coming down from the ceiling to avoid them.

"Hey! Drop the portcullis, don't let them- dammit, they're too close! Belay that, keep it open, keep it-"

BOOM

"Quick!" Dayo said, dashing off with Nuru again into the dying light as the portcullis had fallen closed again behind them.

"Are they coming after us?" Nuru said.

"Not for long, and only on foot. Sun's going down, they don't want to be out at the witching hour, with Jabu's wights possibly about."

Dayo pointed. At some point, the snake had spit up the corpse of the wight, and left it by the corner of the gate, where it looked for all the world like the portcullis had fallen and crushed its head as it had tried to slip inside. The symbol on its back stood out just enough to be noticeable.

"Heh. That's your favorite time, isn't it?"

"Yep. Time to grab fallen souls, before the vamps come out to prey on the foolish."

"And what are we, then?"

"Insane."

Dayo giggled infectiously as they ran. Nuru caught it too and before long they had to slow down and catch their breath from laughing so hard as the rush of victory rolled over them.

"Did you... did you get it?" Dayo said.

"Is this the one?" Nuru said, digging it out of his pack.

"That's it! What do you think?"

"I think I'm gonna have to stop getting hurt, because I don't want to damage this one."

"I'll drink to that. Let's get you home."