Fenrear watches Tsarra smack her face on the wall and grimaces. He motions over to the undead hulk to give him a boost up to the top of the wall. He makes it to the top with a little more grace. The hulk then crumbles to a mass on the floor. As Fenrear looks down on the other side, he can see the problem. No less than 5 Vorrapedes were skittering around by the entrance. Had they tried to fight them, it would have been a very fatal mistake.

Fenrear motions to follow him across the roof top. He could see a pretty long path that should be able to take them to the other side of the ruins and away from the giant bugs. The biggest concern now would be to avoid anything that wouldn’t support their weight. He was almost free and a fall here would not be great.

As they started to move across the roofs, he thought back to home. He wondered where his pack was now. He wondered if he would ever free himself from this curse. Maybe this amulet they had picked up would be the key. 

Bakka Baka baaa.

Fenrear looked behind them. It was only for a minute, but he thought he saw a large tail swish past on of the columns. He stopped and stared at the spot, slowing his breathing so he could hear better. What was there? Need to move faster, yes?

Tsarra looks down at the vorrapedes. Those were some looooong land crabs. More like...leggy lobster eels. The surface was such a weird place. Everything had too many legs and not enough fins. They'd have such a hard time in the ocean, probably sinking like rocks. She supposes they could crawl across the sand at the bottom, but there was something amazing about swimming through the water, free from the restrictions of gravity. 

She looks Fenrear and nods as he gestures for her to follow his lead. The gnoll was a lot more clever than her and hadn't led her astray yet. She trusts him to get them clear of the ruin and to safety, whatever that looked like. Following him along, she does her best to keep her balance and stay quiet. They were sneaking after all. Like thieves in the night, but it was daytime.

In her intense focus on being as stealthy as a fish on land could possibly be, she doesn't notice whatever it is Fenrear notices behind them. She almost bumps into the gnoll when he pauses to try and discern what exactly was following him. 

"Oop, if we need ta move faster then why're ye stoppin'?"

Silly gnoll, contradicting himself. She was completely oblivious to the creature that had taken note of them and was now stalking their path of travel. 

Fenrear nearly loses his balance when Tsaara runs into him. Keeping his cool, he stares deeply at the spot he felt he saw the tail. Was it just a coincidence or was something actually after them?

Peter yells to his mind. Why the delays? We have the amulet. Be done with the fish woman and have her corpse as a back up.

Shut up. I’m not offing travel companions. Didn’t you see that tail? Your a ghost go hunt it down.

Unneeded. I know exactly what trails you which is why you need to proceed with caution.

What do you mean you know.

A final fail safe in place. It’s not following you, it’s following the amulet. You should be fine for now but it will wait for it’s moment to strike.

And you are just mentioning this now???

I felt it earlier but I had hoped that by climbing the walls you would be out of reach. This was not the case apparently. 

That’s just great.

Shhh, we are being followed. Fenrear looks around and spots a more precarious route. We go across those beams. Creature following will be too heavy and take different route. Probably. Fenrear’s footsteps cause a loud freak as he gently steps on to the beam. With a deep breath, he carefully crosses and makes it to the next platform. Fenrear waves the group to follow him.

They're being followed? What?? Since when? By who? The triton looks over her shoulder and tries to see what Fenrear has spotted by sees nothing.

She scratches her head under her hat. Maybe the gnoll was seeing things? Nah, he hadn't led her astray yet. She thinks. Maybe. 

Looking across the beams as he crosses, she glances down. Oof, that'd be a nasty fall. It would probably hurt a lot too. She wasn't meant for all this climbing and falling stuff. She was a swimmer! Why couldn't there be more water out here. Dumb land being so dumb and...landy.

"Okay, okay, cross the beams. Sure, I can do that. No problem, mate."

She focuses on the task at hand, crossing this dumb plank. Luckily for her, she had some experience crossing beams and panks. You kinda had to have some half-decent balance if you worked on a ship. Falling form a mast was not fun. 

Stepping carefully onto the beam, she crosses it a little easier than Fenrear since she's lighter. Still, the platform was pretty cramped between the two of them. If a fight broke out with whatever was following them, it would be pretty hard not to get knocked off. 

Speaking of which. 

It was here. 

Moving his way onto the next beam, he can hear a large hiss rasp from behind them. Bwakka bak bak bak. No Kyle, unfortunately that was not me. Baja bak? No it was not Tsarra either. Baaaak bagh bak. I don’t know and you don’t want to. Let’s all just keep moving quickly…but carefully.

Fenrear tries to move more quickly but the loud creaks of the beams betray the years of ware on them. He can feel the bend in the wood the closer he gets to the middle. He makes it to the next platform, barely larger than the first. This allows him to look back at the beam, and the beast that has emerged.

At first, Fenrear doesn’t understand what he is looking at. The creature looks like a common desert lizard, fire red and swarthy. Except this lizard is several times larger than any lizard he had ever encountered. There was no mistaking it now. It was after them and it didn’t care if they knew it or not.

Keep coming yes? Do not look back, it no good for you. Bwakka bak! Of all of us here Kyle, you have the least to worry about. You are already dead. Kyle turns around and spots the lizard attempting to press on the beam. Kyle flaps hard and charges right at the creatures eyes. With its stubby lizard arms, it can’t quite reach the top of its head where Kyle has perched himself, pecking away at the soft flesh of the creatures eyes. Fenrear sees Kyle has bought them a few precious moments. Come, quickly! 

Tsarra looks back at the creature. It had scales like a fish! Finally something she recognized. No wait. It has legs. It's some sort of leggy fish with no fins. Surface creatures are just so weird and dumb. Wait, she thinks she has seen something like this thing only a lot smaller. Iguana? Yeah, it was called an iguana. 

"That is a damn big iguana!" She comments as Fenrear makes it across the next beam. 

Her moment of feeling proud at herself for accurately identifying the creature after them is short lived as it pursues them across the beams. It stares at them with its unblinking eyes and mouth slightly agape, revealing rows of needle sharp teeth. Kyle's distraction only works for a few moments before it focuses back on the bigger prey before it. It's weight makes the beam flex and groan as it starts to slink forward towards them. 

Tsarra gets a bright idea and gives the end of the beam a kick with her boot as hard as she can muster. Oh, correction, it was not a bright idea, it was a stupid idea. Pain shoots up her leg as the toe of her boot meets solid, dense wood which doesn't budge in the slightest from the impact. 

"OW! Motherfisher!" She hops about on one foot in pain as the lizard gets closer. 

Spotting it closing in, she limps across the next section after Fenrear with some tears in her eyes from the stubbed toe she just gave herself. 

Fenrear watches as Tsarra stubs her foot on the beam they tried to cross. Unfortunately the ancient beam still had some durability in it but it wasn’t wholly an awful idea. He points his clawed finger at the beam and unleashed a bolt of dark energy at the center. The bolt hits the wood with a loud crack then starts to buckle under the weight of the giant lizard. He starts to scramble across but not in enough time to make it to the next platform. With a crack and groan, the lizard plummets to the floor below.

Good idea fish lady yes! Might just live long time yet….ugh…spoke too soon. Fenrear watched in dismay as the lizard scrambled across the ruins below and started to shimmy its way up one of the many columns. Bwak Bakka Bakka bak. Yes Kyle, I am aware that the lizard is still alive. Bak bwaaak bak. No I don’t need any tactical advice from a chicken thank you. Turning to Tsarrra. Fish lady. We must try and get some distance before it makes it back up. The lizard seems to be most…..determined yes?

That beast will never stop until you two join me in the after life. You must find a way to kill it. A magic beast like that cannot be turned so you must I summon or destroy it utterly. How very not helpful of you as always. 

Fenrear picks a longer beams and begins to make his way across. He makes the mistake of looking down at the jagged rocks below and knows immediately a fall from here would be the end of him. He can’t think that way. He just needs to focus on the next platform. That and only that was his world. With a slightly uncomfortable wobble at the end, he makes it across. Breathing a deep sigh of relief, he looks back to check Tsaara’s progress.

---

Dark Bolt

Tsarra isn't enjoying the climbing. Sure, she has climbed a lot cause working on a ship requires that...but she was a fish! Not a...creature that climbs! This iguana was a pain the butt and she didn't have many options to use against it.

She thinks then gets another bright idea. Slipping her travel bag off her back, she holds it open and then creates water inside it.^[1] It quickly overflows and also leaks because it is not at all water proof, but that didn't matter. She throws it down at the lizard's face as it shimmies up towards her and then she moves her hands to manipulate it, making it swell and twist in the air into a harpoon shape.^[2]

She then flings it down at the lizard in hopes of skewering it...but it just splashes in its face since changing the shape of the water didn't actually change its density. She would've known that if she were smarter. She is not. So she did not know. 

"Damn, thought that would work for sure!"

At the very least though, some of the contents of her bag including some rotten fish were carried with the water and splat across the lizard's face, briefly distracting it while she flees across the next beam over to Fenrear.

"What's the plan? We just keep runnin'? We're gonna run outta boards soon!"

---

[1] Create Water
[2] Shape Water

Fenrear watched as Tsarra splashed the lizard in the face with some water. He wasn’t quite sure what the plan was with that but it was becoming painfully obvious that they were starting to run out of alternatives. He looked across the ruins and new deep down that there was no way they were making it across before the giant lizard made snacks out of all of them. 

You know the option dog! Sacrifice the fish woman to the creature and be done with it. How do you say “ screw you” in the language of the undead? Don’t tempt me mutt. You are on thin ice and ever shrinking room. Fenrear put his clawed hand into his pouch, stroking the amulet between his fingers. I know what you are thinking…don’t you dare waste all our effort.

Fenrear holds out the amulet towards the ascending lizard. It immediately comes to attention and starts a low growl from the back of its massive throat. Moving the amulet left to right and back again, he watches as the beasts eyes track it carefully. NO! Do you hear me! No! With a deep breath, Fenrear flings the amulet past the lizard into the ruins below. The lizard immediately descends the pillar and disappears into the darkness.

NOOOOOOOO

Tsarra watches as the lizard suddenly goes after something that glimmers as it sails over her head and down into the ruins. She blinks and takes a moment to realize that it wasn't coming back after them. 

"Huh...I mean, yeah! Ye better run ye scaly handbag!" She shakes her fist at it then puts her hands on her hips and nods approvingly. 

She then looks back at Fenrear. A thought crosses her mind. 

"Wait...ye didn't throw the treasure away did ye?! Wasn't that the whole reason ye came to this ruin?"

What was he thinking? How could he just throw that thing to the giant iguana thingy. He almost drowned! She almost got eaten by a hungry treasure chest! They fended off a big dragon, lizard man! All that work and they had nothing to show for it now! They were walking away with nothing! 

The incredulous look on her face softens a bit. Her hands drop from her hips and she looks back at the ruin where the lizard had retreated to. They were walking away. Fenrear threw the treasure away...so they could leave with their lives.

She feels a weird heaviness in her stomach. What was that? Something she ate? Regret? Guilt? She shakes her head and huffs before crossing the beam over to Fenrear and looking up at him. 

"Sorry, mate. Better luck next time, aye? Maybe uhm...come back when we can really kick that thing's arse, ya?"

Fenrear stared into the black hole of the ruins below in utter silence. He crouched down low to see if he could confirm the lizard had truly left. After a couple minutes and no signs of movement, he was satisfied that they were out of danger. Kyle flapped himself next to him and started mindlessly scratching around. He looked back up at Tsarra.

Maybe it’s better to leave amulet here yes? Funny thing about Necromancer. Spend lots of time with dead things trying to bring back to life. Don’t really like dead things if always trying to make alive again yes? Nothing is more important than staying alive. You trust Fenrear on this, you stay alive no matter what. Fenrear spits into the pit, stands up and picks the next safest route leading to the edge of the ruins.

The rest of the jaunt through the ruins was quiet and uneventful. Finally reaching they wall on the other side of the ruins, there are no signs of Vorrapedes so they descend the wall and start their way to the sea.

Looking to Tsarra. I don’t have much, but a Gnoll warrior keeps his word. I will get fish lady to the sea. Just 3 days that way as the chicken flaps. Bwakka bakka. No Kyle, that’s not racist. It’s just an expression. Bak bak bagggah! You are my minion, you don’t have politics because you follow my politics. Bakka. Now THAT is racist. You apologize right now. Kyle flaps up into a tree. Dang it Kyle! Fenrear throws a rock at him which Kyle doges easily. Fenrear growls and keeps walking knowing his minion must soon follow.

I is wondering yes? How is it fish lady can stay so long out of water?

"You stay alive no matter what."

Tsarra stares at Fenrear for a moment. It's not clear if she's deem in thought or if that sentiment just flew right over the short triton woman's head. 

Internally, she feels...happy? Pissed off? No it's more complicated than that. Complicated...is that a feeling? No, no, there's another word for it. Starts with a C too. Complicated, constellation, constipated...CONFLICTED! That was it. Yeah, she felt conflicted. Like bubbly water that can't decide if it's a liquid or a gas. She didn't like it. 

They manage to escape the ruins without too much of a fuss, but she's kinda annoyed the whole time. Not with Fenrear. No, she was frustrated with the dumb ruin and its dumb traps and the dumb iguana and the dumb amulet. She didn't like it. 

Taking a breath, she huffs and looks at Fenrear. 

"I'm amphibious. So long as it ain't too hot or dry, I'm fine on land for the most part."

She tilts her head back and looks up at the sky above them. They still had a good amount of daylight. Though it would be better if it were night time and they could see the stars. Not that she was a particularly good navigator. If she were, she wouldn't have gotten so far from the ocean in the first place. 

"Ye don't have ta help me. The deal was we get ye trinket, ye help me get to the coast. We didn't get yer trinket, so ye don't have ta get me to the coast. I can find my way. Maybe."

No Fenrear shakes his head adamantly. My decision to toss the amulet yes? You did the deal, we go to the coast. No problem finding it. Giant thing. Gnoll can find in the dark, can already smell the water. You follow yes?

Fenrear points in a direction and starts walking. The conversation was over. Gnoll were not known as great debaters. Once their mind was made up about something, good or bad, that’s just how it was. And he had made up his mind to get her to the coast. That was all there was to it. 

You will pay for this. Every day. I pay every day you are in my head. Why didn’t you sacrifice her. It’s not like you are against killing things. I have combed through that mottled lump you call a brain. The death. Even I was shocked. You could keep Necromancers in corpses forever. So what’s one fish woman. I am no traitor trash man. No traitor. Then settle in, we will be together a long time. Fenrear looked back one more time at the ruin, then took the road heading towards the coast.

END