The Runesmith Chronicles Ch. 21

"Why use the other one then?" he asked.

"Infravision can let you see through things to an extent. If you were hunting and there was a bush in front of you, infravision would allow you to see the rabbit hiding on the other side. With darkvision you wouldn't see the rabbit until it came out from behind its cover. Also, imagine for a moment there's a tunnel off to the side up ahead and some warm-blooded monster was waiting to ambush us. We would be able to see the reflection of their heat on the other wall with infravision. Again, we would just have to be cautious approaching the tunnel if using only darkvision."

"They both sound like things I should eventually have on my bracers."

Ikuno shook her head, "I think it would be wiser to have them only as a backup, if at all. With as little power as they take and as long as the spells last, it would probably be more useful to learn the drawn or held versions if you can manage."

"Speaking of held spells, I've been practicing!" Kal held his hand out flat and Ikuno watched as the magic circle slowly formed above his palm. Gradually all of the sigils and glyphs filled in and with a final pulse of magic, the circle collapsed into a small flame that floated just above his palm.

"No broken fingers, I'm impressed," said the oni with a smile.

"It's only a cantrip level spell, but it's a start," he said tossing the flame from hand to hand before letting it fade. "No more flint and tinder needed for campfires!"

Ikuno rolled her eyes as they continued on their way.

---

"Well fuck," said the oni as she studied the cave in before of them.

"Look up Ikuno," said Kal pointing at the roof of the tunnel just before the collapsed section.

Turning her eyes to the ceiling, she saw the hand-sized gouges in the rock Kal was pointing at on the edge of the cave in. "It was intentional, which doesn't make me feel any better but I'm glad you saw that. Can you check and see if I might be able to punch our way through?" she said summoning her club.

Kal filled himself with magic and peered intently at the rubble with his glowing eyes as he put a hand on one of the rocks and sent out a pulse of magic. Even after he could no longer see the pulse he could still sense it move through the stone. He removed his hand and looked at Ikuno, "No luck, it's caved in as far away as I can follow." The oni was giving him a strange look, "What?" he asked.

She reached out and teased his hair for a moment, "Give you some white hair and some jet-black skin, you'd make a handsome dark elf with those lavender eyes."

Kal raised an eyebrow, "What on earth are you talking about?"

"Nothing," she smiled, "There's a side tunnel a little way back that we are probably supposed to take according to whatever caused the cave in."

Kal cinched his gloves down, "I don't like the idea that we are probably walking into a trap."

"You don't look like you are getting ready to run back to the surface."

"Neither do you," he said to the oni, "You know more about these tunnels and what we may encounter than I do. If you aren't scared than neither am I."

"Fair enough." Ikuno dismissed her club held out her hand to cast the finder spell, "Take me to Silma," she said, and the small purple flame went dancing off the way they had just come.

They retraced their steps and the little flame turned down the tunnel that Ikuno had expected. After walking for another hour the tunnel widened just before opening up into a large, roughly circular room.

Ikuno looked down, from the end of the tunnel to the floor of the room was a drop of about twice her height. It was easy to see that the room was not a natural structure both from its shape and from the unnaturally smooth floor. Leaning out of the tunnel and inspecting the walls, Ikuno saw hundreds of small marks left by the room's creators. The work was far too shoddy to have been dwarves or elves, even orc and goblin stonemasons did better than what she was looking at. Based on the stonework alone she would have guessed at some lower intelligence animal but the near-perfect symmetry of the room suggested something with more brain power. At a bit of a loss, she turned to Kal who was now standing beside her.

"Looks like we found the trap. Unfortunately, I can't tell what is trying to trap us," she told him.

"It looks almost like some kind of arena. Any idea what might need this much room?"

"Nothing I can think of," Ikuno replied deep in thought, "it doesn't match anything I've encountered so far. I think we need to assume that whatever it is built this because it needs a fair amount of space, so it must be pretty large and yet still has to be small enough to fit through there," she said pointing to a tunnel matching the one they were standing in on the other side of the room.

Kal nodded, "Shall we?" he asked, the strength rune on his bracer glowing.

"Normally I'd say no. However, we are on a timetable with this trip. Unless you can think of any reason not to..." Kal shook his head in response. "So be it," she said and jumped down.

Kal landed next to her a moment later, his eyes again glowing purple instead of blue because of the darkvision potion. They cautiously made their way across the large room watching and listening for any signs of movement. Kal was just starting to hope that whatever made the room had moved on when they heard a noise behind them.

A large rust-colored section was detaching itself from the wall behind them, they watched as four armored legs pulled free of holes in the wall followed by four more on the other side of the creature. Its legs made an oddly metallic clanking noise as turned towards them. Two beady black eyes on stalks regarded Kal and Ikuno for a moment before it turned sideways and stretched up to the tunnel they had just dropped down from. With a good deal of scrabbling on the rock, it finally climbed up into the tunnel and hunkered down, effectively blocking any escape as it began loudly snapping its larger right claw.

"Giant crabs?" Kal had seen smaller freshwater crabs by streams and rivers but nothing this size. When it had stopped to look at them its eyes had nearly been level with his own and it was now taking up the entire tunnel, which had widened a fair amount before reaching the room they were in.

"Not giant, those live in the ocean, just very large. I would be excited about a good meal being delivered to us, but something doesn't feel right," she said, warily eyeing up the creature preventing their escape.

As Ikuno spoke the crab's loud snapping was answered from the tunnel they had planned on exiting out of. Kal and Ikuno turned to face the new threat. Two more large, rust-colored crabs dropped to the floor in front of the runesmith and oni while a final large crustacean took up a guard position in the exit, much as the first one had.

As Kal backed away from the approaching crabs Ikuno summoned a magic circle and pressed it to the ground in front of her before quickly stepping back to where Kal was. A second later a swirling column of fire shot upwards to about the height of the tunnels and quickly spread off to either side creating a wall of flame. A staccato of snapping and clicking noises erupted from all four of the crabs, the one in the exit tunnel directed its attention to each of the other three while making the noises with its large and small pincers. Kal came to the sudden realization that they were communicating.

"They're intelligent," he said with a frown.

"I noticed," said Ikuno, wearing the same expression. "If they mean us harm, and things certainly look that way, we will still have to kill them to get out of here." A magic circle that Kal hadn't seen since Ikuno's fight with Sir Galen appeared in front of her hand. "The eye stalks and joints on the legs are a crab's weak spots, they also have a very difficult time righting themselves if flipped on their back. What the...?"

Kal was equally confused as the crabs walked through the wall of fire without giving the extreme heat the slightest consideration. He and Ikuno separated as the crustaceans finally cleared the flames, one of them slowly advanced on Kal as the other seemed to look between the human and the oni in confusion. Kal took the brief moment to remove his pack with its valuable cargo and toss it to Ikuno. Since her opponent had made no effort to engage her yet, she placed both their packs against the back wall before readying herself for battle.

Ikuno held her hand out and a crescent moon of energy shot out at the crab's face striking the base of the eyestalk but almost immediately dissipating and doing almost no damage other than leaving a silvery streak on its reddish-brown shell. The crab's eyestalks had withdrawn as the bolt struck, tucking away under the front lip of the shell. The oni scowled as they emerged unharmed. Two more of the moon-shaped cutters hit the front of the crab as the wall of fire behind it finally dissipated leaving a faintly glowing line in the floor from the heat. Ikuno had hoped that the first bolt's ineffectiveness had been a fluke but quickly learned that wasn't the case. The two most recent attacks again appeared to have no significant result other than leaving shimmering scars on its shell. Even stranger, after being attacked three times it still had yet to advance on her.

The crab in front of Kal seemed much more interested in him than the other was in Ikuno as it cautiously and purposefully bore down on him. Kal took advantage of its caution and tied his will to the floor directly in front of the crab. When it stepped over the trap, his strength rune shone brightly as he punched upwards. The stone column impacted the crustacean right behind its face and sent it flying end over end backwards. His relief at possibly flipping the crab onto its back was short lived as it tucked in its legs and made a roughly ball shape with its body as it flew through the air. When it landed with a metallic clang the momentum rolled it back into an upright position where it quickly spread out its legs and stood there a moment getting its bearings once again.

Kal pressed the attack by taking a small circular area of the column he had just made and pushing it towards the crab forming it into a spike at the end as he attempted to run forward, pushing the spike in front of him. The whole process was far too slow and the large crab just bent down and let the spike hit its shell, easily snapping off the thinner point. What really caught Kal's attention was the metallic ring the crab's shell made as the stone hit it. "Oh no," he whispered to himself as he looked over at the oni.

Since magic attacks weren't working, Ikuno figured it was time to crack some shells the old-fashioned way and summoned her iron club. Upon seeing her weapon her shelled opponent finally seemed to take an interest in her and began moving towards her. Ikuno heard the sound from Kal's attack on the other side of the room, but with the advancing crab drawing her attention, she failed to understand its implications. Taking the club in both hands she brought it up for an overhead swing that should turn the crustacean in front her into mush.

The crab's larger claw snapped closed on the iron club but with the oni's enhanced strength it made no difference as the weapon slammed down onto the right side of its shell. A sound like a gong rang out and the crab was driven to the floor from the force of the impact, its legs splayed out to either side. The strike also knocked loose the fine layer of rust covering the iron shell which slid off as it continued to ring for the next few seconds revealing the shiny metal beneath. The iron crab now had a deep indentation in its shell complete with divots from the spikes on the oni's club.

Ikuno fared no better in the exchange, the shockwave from the impact ran back up the iron club into her arms causing her to drop the weapon and scream in pain. As she stumbled back and fell to her knees Kal was right there healing her. He hadn't had time to warn her before the massive hit but ran over as quickly as possible to deal with the aftermath. Ikuno was panting from the pain in her arms when he reached her and Kal could understand why as his healing rune went to work. While none of her bones had broken, the shock from such a blow had badly damaged the softer tissues nearly up to her shoulders.

As the pain-deadening aspect of the healing rune kicked in she was finally able to speak, "side pouch on my pack, the blue vial is a healing potion. Hurry, the other one is starting to come this way." Kal nodded that he understood and Ikuno hissed in pain as he released the healing spell and jogged to the back wall where their packs were. Retrieving the potion, he quickly infused it with magic before he removed the stopper and poured it into her mouth. Kal then quickly returned to the other side of the room, leading the uninjured crab away from the mending oni.

Geomancy was proving to be too slow to deal with these creatures and Kal was running out of space as the crustacean drove him toward the back of the room. Kal's shield appeared for a moment and the strength rune shined as he slapped the crab's larger claw away. Using the momentary respite, he glanced back at the wall behind him. With his enhanced strength he jumped backwards, being careful to not jump too high and smash his head into the ceiling. Using the trick Gerda had taught him, he anchored his feet to the stone of the wall about three-quarters of the way up, his strength rune making it easy to stand straight out sideways. Kal's hope was that he was high enough that the crab would have to turn to reach him, making it unable to bring its dangerous larger claw to bear.

Movement off to his side caught Kal's attention. Two beady eyes from the crab blocking the entrance tunnel peered around the corner with an expression that Kal could only guess was surprise, it was a strangely comical moment that made Kal smile despite being in the middle of a battle. On the other side of the room, he saw a flash as Ikuno's club disappeared, a few seconds later magic circles formed in front of the oni's hands as Ikuno continued healing herself. He was surprised to see that the crab Ikuno had hit was still alive but plainly in no mood to fight. Despite the front two of its four legs on one side hanging limply and refusing to work, it was trying weakly to back away from the woman who had hurt it so badly.

Scraping of metal on rock below him drew his attention downward and Kal's eyes widened as the crustacean stood leaning against the wall on its rearmost legs, stretching up to reach for him. The crab was having a hard time balancing as it extended the larger claw and chose to keep it tucked in close to its body as it reached out with the smaller one.

Kal batted the pincer away with a gloved hand but underestimated how nimble the smaller claw was. It dipped out of the way only to flick back in and clamp down on his glove. Small ridges on the inner edge designed to keep prey from escaping caught on the sides of the metal plate attached to the back of his hand. Those same ridges now prevented the plate from turning and allowing the claw to remove Kal's fingers.

The crab began dragging Kal's hand towards its mouth. In a moment of panic, Kal produced a column of stone from the wall beneath him with his other hand and used it to punch the creature away from him. For a moment he thought the crab was going to take his arm along with as it flew backwards but three of the steel plate's four attachment points gave way and the smaller claw snapped closed on thin air as Kal yanked his arm back.

He held up his ruined glove and growled in frustration. Kal hadn't gotten lucky enough to knock the crab onto its back and it had already gathered itself and was starting to approach him again as he ripped the last rivet out of the leather and tossed the metal plate out onto the floor. The large crustacean suddenly seemed to forget the human existed and pounced on the piece of metal like a cat on a fleeing mouse. Kal watched in disbelief as it quickly picked up the piece of steel and ate it. It's eye stalks swiveling around looking for more before turning back toward Kal and starting to approach him once again.

"Ikuno, do you have any iron or steel on you? Buckles? Anything?" he called out.

"No, my buckles are all made of brass. Why?" She yelled back. The oni had seen the crab pounce on something and eat it but had been concentrating on finishing up healing her arms and didn't see what it was.

Kal's shoulders slumped and he hung his head in defeat, which didn't quite work out the way he expected since he was still standing sideways on the wall. He carefully stepped down onto the column he had just made and dropped off the end

"What are you doing Kal?" asked Ikuno when she saw him loosening his gloves.

"I have a hunch. They're looking for food, but they aren't interested in eating us," with the strength rune still glowing, Kal ripped the steel plate that went across his fingers from the damaged glove and walked up to the crab that had been attacking him moments earlier. It ducked backwards as he held the plate out, it's eye stalks tucking themselves under the lip of its shell.

As Kal stood there it cautiously came forward, its eyes peeking back out and its smaller claw gingerly reaching out to take the steel plate from the human. Instead of eating it, the iron crab skittered over and stretched up, passing the piece of metal to its friend blocking the exit, who quickly brought it to its mouth.

"Fuuuuuck... I liked these gloves too," Kal griped as he ripped the remaining plates off the other glove. When his former opponent dropped back to the floor and turned around, Kal held up the other finger plate so the crabs could see it before turning around and tossing it up to the blocker of the entrance. The crustacean deftly snapped the piece of steel out of the air and munched it down within seconds.

Ikuno joined him as he walked over to the injured crab. "Now I feel bad," she said, "it would probably have never approached me if I hadn't summoned my club. Could have saved us both a lot of pain."

The crab shied away from them, along with two of its legs the big claw was now dragging on the ground and one of its eyestalks tilted forward, looking at the floor in front of it. Kal was pretty sure it was no longer working as well.

"It looks like it's dying. Is there anything we can do?" Kal asked.

"Apart from sticking your hand in its mouth and trying to heal it from there? I don't think so," Ikuno replied, "everywhere else is covered in iron and will just try to absorb the magic. Just so you know, I will NOT let you stick your hand in its mouth."

"Not everywhere," said Kal, handing the steel plate to Ikuno and lifting up the limp eyestalk. "This is going to be gross," he said. Holding the stalk in one hand Kal held his other hand over the eye then paused for a moment. Looking to the side he saw the other large crab looking between him and his companion, the one camping in the exit tunnel doing the same, he could almost swear that they both looked worried for their friend. Kal shook his head at the strange thought.

Steeling himself, Kal placed his hand on the crab's eye, finding it to be glassy and smooth instead of wet and slimy as he had expected. The healing rune on his vambrace lit up and Kal directed the magic down the very center of the stalk and into the large crustacean's body. Is was very touch and go as he had to get the magic to the places that needed healing but avoid any parts of the body with high concentrations of iron. It took a full minute before he started pouring energy into the rune with confidence that he wasn't just wasting magic.

The eyestalk in his hand quickly stiffened but the crab didn't try to pull away, as if it understood that Kal was trying to help it. It took another full minute before the large claw started moving again, its two front legs reviving a few seconds later. Kal continued to heal the creature for a few more moments until the magic seemed to vanish all at once. Like normal, everything that needed healing was done and the healing magic began spreading out, up until it touched one of the crab's iron body parts.