Day 18: Gods Know What Time, Part I

So I know I put a lot of griping into these journal entries. I don't know why, maybe it's because I can't really talk to these guys. But this time, I'm not just complaining. We're in a real bad way here.

We went down that mine shaft. No sign of anyone around to bushwhack us, and we can't just leave some girl trapped in a mine.

Tallow was real clear that he wasn't going first. "Why not?" I asked him. "It's about time you do something useful."

"Aww, don't try to sweet-talk me, Captain."

"He's right, Tal," said Gunther. "You're a sneaky little bugger, get on in there."

"Sneaky?"

We all just stared at him. Finally he nodded.

"Alright, you want me to go first? You want me to lead the fucking way?" I didn't like the smile on his face. "Alright, here's my leadership. I have this rope here, see?" He pulled it out of his pack. "And I'm gonna tie it onto that support beam there. Then I'm gonna yank as hard as I can and close up this fucking mine shaft. That girl can go fuck herself, 'cuz I ain't walking into a trap to save her. Get it?"

"Fuck you, Tallow."

"Fuck me? Fuck me? Yeah, go on and fuck me. Out here where I can see you. Fuck you, Captain."

I swiped at him with the flat of my sword, but he jumped out of the way. "I'll lead," I said. "Gunther, let these two babies go in the middle and you guard the rear."

"Sure thing Cap."

Two feet inside the door Tallow walked past me. "What're you doing?"

He didn't look back as he answered. "My job, asshole."

So Tallow lead the way, I kept my sword drawn behind him, Grens held up a lantern and Gunth came in last. Tallow stepped from side to side as he went, his head always moving as if he was looking everything over. He stayed a few steps ahead of me, and I sure didn't mind. We probably went through forty feet of tunnel that way. Then we heard that moaning noise again.

Tallow held up his hand for us to stop. I did the same in case the others couldn't see him.

"Do you see anything?" Gunther whispered.

Tallow took a moment to reply. Finally, he backed up a little bit, and let out a sharp whisper: "Guys, get out of here!"

No sooner had he spoken than some kind of tentacle hit him. Hard. He sagged backwards and I ran up with my sword. I cut before I could see what I was cutting--it was some kind of giant mushroom. I saw Gunther leap past me and cleave into another one. The room got lighter as Grens entered. A mushroom near us let out a mind-bending shriek as it deflated into a pile of mold. A tentacle lashed past me and I cut another mushroom, putting all my strength into a single powerful blow. Yet another tentacle whipped out and snapped across my face. Not only was it a strong blow, but it felt like some kind of stingers had been left in me. My whole face and one side of my neck tingled in agony.

As my eyelids swelled up it became hard to see, but in the pool of lantern light I could tell we were in a room with maybe a dozen giant mushrooms, all in different shades of purple. Must've been a whole colony of them. And they could move! Tallow disappeared into shadow as he scrambled up something. I could see that poor Grens was damn near surrounded as Gunther tried to cut his way over to him.

No time for thought. I did what I was trained to do and laid waste to the ones around me. They were big soft targets so I didn't have to aim much--just swing hard. The scum kept flailing with those tentacles, and I kept hacking with my sword. Some of them shrieked loudly as they died, others fought back. I started focusing on the ones who didn't shriek, since they seemed more dangerous. I took another tentacle, this one to the stomach, and I doubled over in pain. I think I almost dropped my sword.

And then, I could hardly swing it. It's like strength was sapped out of my body. I managed a stab into the mushroom that had wounded me, but it didn't do much. An arrow hit it, then a slice from Gunther finished it off. Pretty soon all the mushrooms were still and there was no sound except our heavy panting in the thick, spore-filled air. Grens sneezed.

"Check it out," Said Tallow. "Some kind of shrine."

In the flickering light I could see a large altar-like table with the remains of candleholders on it and not a few small mushrooms gorwing from it. On the wall above was a carving of some deity's face, with large curved horns that looked to be real. To either side of the altar a branch of the mine tunnel headed out into darkness.

"I wouldn't mess with it, Tallow. Search it for treasure." What?

For my part, I wasn't much smarter. I knelt down in the middle of the room and picked up a big piece of one of those walking mushrooms. They were filled with a sort of fluf, like a puffball fungus. But their outer "skin" was much thicker and seemed to have vein-like structures in it. I could see lots of little hairs on the bottom of its tentacle. Some kind of purple mushroom man. I'd have to remember that.

I could see why they liked the place so much. Even as I stood there picking at the thing's carcass, water dripped onto my face from above. The whole room had a lot of moisture, trickling down here and there. The floor was muddy in a few places, but mostly dry. Almost as if it was draining somehow.

Draining? Yeah, you guessed it. I did too, but too late. Tallow was rooting around the altar and all of a sudden, creeeak, CRACK, WHOOSH! The floor fell out from under me. Well, us. I didn't see how Tallow got out of the way but I think he jumped up onto the altar. Grens was lucky to be off the the side. Me and Gunther fell a couple of stories down, with broken beams and more than a mouthful of dirt coming with us.

Ouch. Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch. The fall was bad, but there was a little water at the bottom. I happened to fall right just by chance, and other than a really sore tailbone I'm okay. Gunther wasn't so lucky. He was knocked out cold.