Elder Blood Witcher - 786 GO-TIME

Zudite “I don’t think so, I’m not smelling anything…”

Hurtelt can’t stop the grin from forming on his face, “You must be imagining it.”

Etredi “NNGGHHH! IT GOT WORSE!”

Hurtelt “Hehehahaha!”

Etredi “It’s you isn’t it bastard!”

Dythi sighs and hsakes his head, glancing behind him at Tildanird, “You alright?”

Tildanird slowly nods, “The smells a bit… I’m fine for now though, as long as this tunnel doesn’t get any tighter.”

Dythi nods, “Let’s hope we get out of here soon…”

Hurtelt stops abruptly causing Etredi to walk into his back, the pitch darkness not allowing them to see anything that’s not directly next to them. “Hang on… Zudite, I hope you’ve got a way of replenishing the Oxygen, I’d almost forgotten about it… There are many stories of miners suffocating in their shafts.” he says gravely.

Zudite nods, “I’ve been flushing the air since we started, I’d have thought you’d realise that the “breeze” isn’t from the tunnel.”

Etredi “I thought that was just from this fools backside!”

Hurtelt snorts again but managing to hold back his laugher this time, “Good, at least someone’s got things under control.”

Etredi “And you do?” she asks sarcastically.

Hurtelt “I was flushing the air in my own way.” he shrugs, Zudite continuing to tunnel towards their destination.

…

9 hours later :

Etredi “Can we take a break yet!? My feet hurt!” he exclaims, causing the rest to sigh.

Tildanird “Yeah? Well my back hurts, get used to it!”

Dythi “I don’t know whether we could take a break or not… Tildanird would be forced to stand, and I’m not sure if Zudite can keep using his magic for non-crucial things…”

Zudite nods, “I’m struggling to dig and flush the air, if we stop now we’ll probably not be coming out… Don’t worry though, I think we’re almost there…” he mutters.

*Thud* *tap, tap*

As Zudite casts the spell again pieces of the wall in-front of him fall inwards, opening a small hole into some opening… It’s too dark for him to see, but before he’s able to create some lighting to peer into whatever place they’d accidentally found his friends walk into his back, pushing him forwards and through the wall.

*CRASH!*

Zudite unceremoniously falls onto his face as the stone wall crumbles beneath his weight, not knowing what awaits him in the cave he scrambles to get up as the others behind him questions the problem.

Hurtelt “Zudite? Something happen?” he quickly asks, drawing the trademark Cat School silver dagger that looks remarkably like a Karambit from earth and stepping forth, warily treading atop the rubble that used to comprise the thin stone wall.

Zudite finally manages to get to his feet, just as peculiar noises cause goosebumps to form on his skin, the sound of running water also tickles his ears and causes him to rapidly chant the spell for light.

A ball of light forms above him, illuminating the opening… And revealing ancient-looking ruins. The room they’re currently in is shaped like a large cylinder, the middle of which contains a pool of vicious red liquid, judging by the smell… Its blood…

There’s a single exit on the far side of the room, some stairs leading to it… Strangely, the blood seems to be coming from there, groves carved into the steps allowing it to stream and gather into the pool.

Hurtelt “The fuck is this place…” he mutters to himself quietly, his voice echoing around the room regardless of how loud he is.

Zudite “No idea… Must be related to the Vampires though, right? This amount of blood isn’t easy to gather…”

Etredi, Dythi, and Tildanird slowly come out from the tunnel, warily looking around… Etredi holds a small iron dagger, it likely wouldn’t do anything to any Vampires they come across, but it’s more for comfort at this point…

Dythi already had his shield and spear ready, preparing to defend against an attack from the entrance of the room…

Tildanird retrieves some long silver stakes from a bag on his hip, holding them with a toothpick grip just incase anything suddenly attacks them…

Etredi “Think this is where Margarita’s friend is being held?” she questions.

Zudite shakes his head, “No… Margarita said it looked like an ordinary basement with cells… Nothing like this.” he says gesturing towards the blood pool.

Tildanird “Shouldn’t we get moving? Whoever lives here might have heard th-”

Hurtelt “Everyone get down, somethings approaching.” he quickly whispers, ducking behind one of the decorative stone outcroppings on the side of the room.

Everyone else follows his instructions and hides in various places around the room, some better than others… Overall they shouldn’t be immediately spotted.

The sound of many feet can be heard coming down the stairs, clicking, growls, and chittering noises came from whatever group of creatures had arrived.

No one was able to see what was happening, but they could hear the creatures walk up and approach the pool, taking loud clumsy mouthfuls of blood to slate their thirst…

Without warning Hurtelt shouts, “Zudite, LIGHT NOW!”

Immediately the creatures screech, looking towards the sound but getting blind the next second as light fills the room, they writhe around in pain, covering their eyes with their wings… Not noticing Hurtelt dashing towards them with his dagger.

Hurtelt had been aware of the creatures race as soon as they starting clicking… Only Plumards make those kinds of noises amoung Vampires, this meant that this place was likely their feeding ground… And, that they’d be staying here for quite some time to rest, time the group didn’t have to spare.

The light revealed their forms, dog-sized bats with sharp teeth and claws… Hurtelt was surprised that they only numbered around twenty, having thought there’d be a lot more.