“You better remember this for the rest of your life,” Nar told Mach. Like him, the vanore was also smearing himself in rat poo. “Not only did I run up a giant, burning tree filled with beasts to grab you that egg, but I also smeared myself in rat shit for it.”

  “For real,” Eum growled, as he rubbed the dark brown gunk directly over his own fur.

  They had tried Raf, Tun and Gad’s jungle suits, but they were all too big for the tygaris, and anything else was too small. The rat droppings that Medis had stolen from the burrow had to be directly applied to his fur, but at least he still had his tight shorts to protect his privates…

  “I will never forget this!” Mach vowed; his dark blue eyes opened wide. He too smeared the crap all over his own skin and feathers, but that was done in solidarity to Eum. “I will pay you back, even on top of my spirit’s reward!”

  “I didn’t say pay me back. I said don’t forget it for the rest of your life!” Nar corrected.

  “And I will also tell everyone about your great sacrifice!” Mach vowed.

  “Don’t you fucking dare!” Eum snarled.

  Tuk, Jaz and Mul had been doing their best to hold in their laughter, but lost it at last. They buckled over in riotous, lost laughter. Teb looked away, biting his own lips in solidarity to keep from spilling, but even the usually stoic Sarke and Gad were grinning at the sight of the three brown covered delvers.

  “I said don’t film it!” Eum shouted at his sister.

  “I’m not!” the leontar said.

  “I can see your eyes moving up and down to make sure you get everything!”

  Given her innocent smile, ruined with that predatory glint on her beastkin expression, Nar had absolutely no doubts Medis was absolutely recording the whole damned thing to her implant. She would hold the footage over Eum’s head forever.

  “Your [Constitution] should fight off any infections if you get hurt like that, but just in case, be aware that if you do get hurt, you might need to burn through extra aura to heal,” Jasphaer said, approaching Nar despite the vile stench emanating from him. “Genahu… I’ve seen some things in my days in the hospital, but never this.”

  “Even growing in the Minus, this is something I’ve never seen. At least not voluntarily,” Leta said, shaking her head. “Yuck.”

  “You have to go up. Into the glitzy skyrises,” Leon said, pointing up. “The floors without windows… Now that’s where you find shit like this. And worse.”

  “Now, why did you out yourself like that, Leon?” Calli asked, smiling innocently at her brother.

  “Right. I walked right into that one,” Leon muttered, sighing as laughter echoed around the group.

  “Will you be alright?” Kur asked, approaching Nar.

  “Will you be alright?” Nar asked back. “That gorilla sounds like a nasty piece of work.”

  Kur heaved a deep sigh.

  “Too late for regrets?” Nar asked his party leader, through their private party chat.

  “We can still pull the plug on this,” Kur said, using the O-Nexian expression. “But…”

  “The gains are too good to pass on,” Gad said. “If they’re better than what we got in that escape quest, then helping them get this egg will push us to a whole new level.”

  “Pun intended?” Mul asked.

  “Yes,” Gad said.

  There was a moment of silence while everyone tried to figure out if Gad was joking or not.

  “A lot of us got hundreds of attribute points from that quest,” Kur said in the silence. “So we can’t pass up this opportunity. The gains of today will make sure that we stay alive when the Pile inevitably comes crashing down on our heads tomorrow. Besides, our tokens are so close to pushing us into the rare rewards… Any of you telling me that no one here is looking forward to those?”

  “Given that we need to fight the strongest of the Lords of the Jungle for it?” Rel asked. “I’m not so sure to be honest.”

  “It will be okay,” Jul said. “We’ve been through worse.”

  “I’m not so sure about that anymore,” Nar thought, looking down at the gunk in his fingers.

  “I wish I had an implant,” Viy said, grinning at Nar. “I need to ask Medis to share it with us.”

  Nar heaved a heavy sigh, and that was where the silent conversation ended.

  “Good luck!” Jasphaer said, wiggling his eyebrows at Nar as he stepped back so he could breathe again.

  “See you on the other side!” Leta added. “It’s going to be the greatest shower of your life. Or the worst…”

  “Thanks,” Nar muttered, glaring at the two healers.

  The green haired ex-rogue turned fear warrior took their place, with Rel in tow and pinching her nose.

  “You missed a spot,” Jul said, smiling as she pointed at his back.

  “Thanks,” Nar said, with a sarcastic grin. “Do you want to do the honors?”

  “No, I really don’t,” Jul said. Then she frowned at him, her large green and blue compound eyes pleading. “Be safe, okay?”

  “You’re the one fighting that beast and whatever friendlies it brings along,” Nar said. “I’m just running up a tree and snatching an egg. How hard can that be?”

  “Aaaaand you jinxed it,” Rel said, shaking her head.

  “Whatever,” he muttered, as he smeared the spot that Jul indicated. “There, how’s it smell?”

  He was fully coated now. He was even wearing his mask, not just for the smoke, but so that he could smear it as well.

  “Bad?” Rel said, unhelpfully. “Radiants, I’ll never forget this sight.”

  “Good. I catch a whiff of your real smell underneath the rat, but it will be masked by the smoke,” Jul said. “Just be careful. If it looks too dangerous, it’s okay to run away. Even Mach said so. Sej and Kur too!”

  “It will be okay,” Nar said.

  “Here!” Rel said, extending a bundle of arrows to him, from a safe distance.

  “Poison arrows?” Nar asked, noticing the thickness of the arrow heads.

  “You never know when they’ll come in useful,” the alfin said, shrugging. “Better to have them than not, when facing a nest filled with gigantic wind serpents. Of course, it doesn’t compare to your [Aura Blade], but all the same, who knows?”

  “Thank you,” Nar said, stashing the projectiles into his ring. “Knowing how things usually go, it will probably help.”

  “Probably,” Rel said, chuckling. “Whatever can go wrong will always go wrong. Good luck up there. Get in, set fire, grab an egg, get out, alright?”

  “Yes, mam!” Nar said, throwing her a mock salute.

  “Good. And hey, I could get used to that, right?” Rel asked Jul, who nodded with heartfelt agreement.

  “Alright, I think that’s enough smearing,” Kur said. “I for one can only smell poo, now.”

  “Yup,” Row said, fanning the air. “Gods, it’s like standing next to the toilets back home…”

  “Imagine how I feel,” Eum said, twisting his nose. “This stuff is on me!”

  “Maybe the fire will clean you,” Mul said, in a deadtone pan that gave nothing of his intentions.

  “Abyss, no! It’ll bake the shit into his fur even more!” Leon sniggered.

  “Alright, alright!” Kur said, before the tygaris finally lost it. “Any last-minute questions? No? Okay, everybody knows the plan. You know the retreat routes and the get back together locations. If the worst comes to it, run for it, and we’ll regroup later. Now, let’s get this done, and then let’s finally head to the exit. I can’t wait to have a real night’s sleep.”

  And shower until my skin and hair falls off, Nar said, grimacing at his brown covered self.

  **********

  “I spot three of them,” Nar said into their domain party.

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  Calli had suggested that the three of them form a new party, but both Kur and Row had argued against it to Nar’s relief. It was far too early to be joining another party and casting away the opportunity to learn about new attributes. Besides, he couldn’t deny the prospect held a certain psychological weight he wasn’t ready to face.

  “Me too,” Eum said, as he hid behind another branch with Mach. “No sentries or guards on the inside either. Like Medis said, they are confident that no one will attack them with the serpents protection.”

  “Kur?” Nar asked.

  “We’re all in position to intercept Silver Fists as well. You can proceed,” the domain leader said. “Good luck.”

  “You too,” Nar said. “Right, I think the shit smell will cover us as we approach, then I think you and Mach are better for taking them down quietly.”

  “They don’t have much HP, so a quick slash to the throat and a push off the branch should be enough,” Mach said.

  “Let’s do that. I slash, you push them down,” Eum agreed. “Nar, be ready for anything.”

  “Will do.”

  Nar climbed down his branch, careful not to disturb any of the smaller branches filled with their easily rustled green and silver glowing leaves. Then he creeped over to the great tree.

  Careful, Nar told himself, as he held onto the branch in front of him, his legs firmly planted on the one at his back. Below, far, far below, past a maze of branches and leaves, there was a tiny triangle of deep blue water. If the fall didn’t kill him, whatever swam in that impenetrable blue mirror would.

  “We’re ready,” Mach said.

  “I’m here too,” Nar said, his [Hearing] and [Awareness] working to the max. “Looks like the poo is working.”

  “At least it wasn’t for nothing,” Eum muttered. “Right, I’m going in. Mach, you follow after me, and Nar, make your way inside and kill anything that spots us.”

  Nar and the wind aethermancer gave their mental yeses, and Eum darted to action.

  Nar leaped up from his hiding spot, pushing past the dense foliage, and ignoring the startled rats, he made straight for the entrance into the burrow. This was only one of many of course, but they had chosen it because it was one of the highest ones, and thus less defended. The rat poo that covered them served the dual purpose of also hiding them from the powerful senses of the wind-serpent matriarchs, allowing them to climb that high and close to the serpent’s nest and bypass a large chunk of the burrow.

  “One. Two. Three,” Mach counted, as Nar entered the tree.

  A panicked squee reached Nar’s ears. He winced as the not-so throat slashed rat screamed all the way down to its death.

  “Oops,” Eum said. “Not deep enough.”

  “You guys okay?” Kur asked.

  “No movement here,” Nar said, pushing past his hammering heartbeat to listen for any signs of alarm.

  The tunnel curled upwards into the darkness, but other than the occasional distant squeak, nothing indicated a horde of rats headed their way.

  He frowned at the tunnel's walls, passing a hand over the one on the left.

  They were incredibly smooth. Not at all what he’d expect. He doubted the rats had done it, meaning that either the dungeon guardian had designed the serpent and rats relationship from the beginning, or something else had previously lived in the tree and the carved burrow had survived through the Brightnight’s many, many, many iterations.

  “Looks like we're good,” Nar said, when the other two poked their heads in.

  “My bad. It twisted at the last second and I didn’t cut deeply enough,” Eum said, his beastkin features already bloodied.

  “Do we keep going?” Mach asked.

  “Let’s do this,” Eum said, taking the lead.

  Medis had risked a lot by mapping the burrow and searching for the beast path to the least protected egg chamber. With her [Prowl], she had scouted several entry and exit points, located the spots where the spiny rats were most active, as well as the younger, smaller serpents, and she had marked not only the best possible path to guide them through that maze, but also several alternatives and escape routes, in case the Pile came crashing down on their heads.

  [Stealth] skills are so useful, Nar thought. No judgment on Jul for not wanting to use them, but stealth-based classes really have a huge advantage in many situations.

  Eum guided them silently upwards, following Medis’ map through his implant. After ducking under a short arch, their feet started crunching through a thick carpet of dried leaves.

  “Can they tell we’re not walking like rats?” Mach asked.

  “Too late to worry about that,” Nar said.

  There was a wide opening at their side, and Nar spied a wide, open chamber, filled with sleeping beasts. They were close to the serpents nest, and the sense of safety that the rats derived from that meant this was also the level where they would find most of their bigger sleeping chambers.

  “Wow… There’s like a hundred of them in there,” Mach said.

  “Just walk quietly,” Eum said. “Hurry.”

  “Wait, something’s coming this way!” Nar warned.

  The rest of the party remained quiet as the trio of delvers crept their way higher and deeper into the burrows, never reacting to any of their near-misses with the rats or their findings as they made it deeper in.

  “Crystal, listening to you guys is nerve-wracking,” Jaz said, cracking at last.

  “Hush!” Row predictably warned him.

  “Imagine being here,” Mach muttered.

  We’re here for you! Nar thought, as they pressed themselves against a crevasse in the wall. One of the rats walking by stopped to sniff in their direction, its cute whiskers tasting the air. But it went on its way, following after its two comrades on whatever purpose guided them.

  The trio quickly rushed from their hiding spot, and the strong breeze they met at the intersection of several corridors told them they had arrived.

  “We’re here,” Eum informed the others. “We’re going to start the fire.”

  “Got it. Good luck,” Kur said.

  Mach and Eum pulled out red, metal vials with huge warning signs in yellow and black on them, and after unscrewing their lids, they paused to check each other and Nar.

  Nar took a deep breath… and nodded.

  Eum poured the liquid over the walls and leaves of the left side, and Mach did the same on the path through which the breeze blew harder from, sometimes even turning into proper wind.

  “Are we really going to gain any XP this way?” Nar asked as he waited, senses pushed to the max.

  “Yep,” Eum said.

  “There are whole classes that fight using things like this,” Mach added, as a pungent chemical smell filled the passage. “Chemists especially, but there’s people who use explosives, traps, and many other kinds of concoctions and constructs.”

  “Wow,” Nar said.

  “The Nexus is a big place. A big, big place,” Eum said, as he poured another vial. “You really haven’t seen anything yet.”

  The two aethermancers finished pouring several more vials of the noxious liquid, in both that intersection of corridors, and two of the corridors that they didn’t need. Somehow, they made it without any rats approaching them. Of course, being in the middle of the night helped, but still, Nar’s heart was on his throat. Even if they had to escape, it was likely that they would just have to attempt it again, and no one was looking forward to that.

  “Right, liquid’s poured. Let’s light it up,” Eum said.

  “Careful!” Calli warned uselessly. “Make sure none of it got on you!”

  “We’re okay,” Mach said, and he nodded at Eum.

  The tygaris glanced at Nar, and he too gave the tygaris the go ahead. Eum wasted no time then, and he scratched the ignitor against the wall of the tunnel.

  “Here goes nothing,” he said, and flung the tiny little flame at the shimmering, orange and green liquid a few feet away from him.

  The tunnel lit up in a whoosh of bright, orange flames. The fire sped along the lines of flammable liquid and the dried leaves that seemed to cover most of the corridors quickly caught on fire.

  “Nice,” Eum said. “Hopefully that will keep them occupied.”

  “We should get the Pile away from here,” Nar said.

  The fumes were quickly spreading to other corridors, and the flames spread, fanned by the breeze.

  “Right! This way!” Eum said.

  The three of them sped in the opposite direction of the fire. Soon enough, panicked squeaks ruptured throughout the burrow.

  “They know about the fire,” Nar told the others.

  “Let’s hurry! The eggs are close!” Eum said.

  As they continued to climb to one of the large chambers where the rats stored and cared for the serpents eggs, so they did the smoke rose, hot on their heels. The corridors and openings they passed were soon lit up by searing orange flames, and it didn’t take long before they themselves found their path blocked by the roaring fire.

  “Shit!” Eum said, pausing before the brilliant flames. “It must have travelled up another corridor. Let’s just run through!”

  Mach and Eum plunged into the flames, protected by their fire-resistant potion, but Nar only had his pain resistance and self-healing to rely on. He swallowed a scream as the flames licked though his jungle suit and lapped at his flesh.

  “You okay?” Eum asked.

  “Never better,” Nar said, his aura already onto the task. “Keep going.”

  Soon, the corridors were filled with panicked and agonized screeching, and when they finally passed a couple of fleeing rats, who completely ignored the delvers invading their home, the trio abandoned all and any attempts at stealth and sprinted for it.

  A couple of minutes later, their corridor opened into a wide chamber carved out in the wood, and here, at last, was their prize.

  Laid upon a soft nest of branches and dried leaves, there sat at least two or three dozen eggs, shimmering in the dark in pearlescent washed greens and blues.

  SKREEEE!

  Nar whirled, his crimson, scarred sword coming to his hand with nary a thought. Sometimes these days, he wondered if he even called for the blade, or if it just came to him, expecting combat and nourishment.

  “Looks like not everyone ran for it,” Eum said, as a dozen or so bigger rats streamed into the egg chamber. “Me and Nar will handle this. Go pick an egg before that nest goes up in flames!”

  “On it!” Mach said.

  “You take the left, I take the right?” Eum asked.

  “Fastest takes them all!” Nar said, grinning, as he leaped to meet the rats.

  It was a shame, but this really wasn’t the best place to be testing his new aura edge. The rats were weak, and he killed them easily with just weak [Sword Aura] strikes or slashes with of his aura-coated weapon, and a tree going up in flames, with two aethermancers stuck to him in tight quarters was really not the right place or time for tests.

  In a haze of blood, Nar slaughtered through the poor rat guardians, and faced off against another wave coming from the same corridor.

  “Did you get one yet?” Eum asked the wind aethermancer.

  “Hold on, I need to check them all,” Mach said.

  “You need to what? Why?” Nar asked.

  “Too much green means an affinity towards more gentle winds!” Mach explained. “I need the darkest blue I can find. That means an affinity to stormy winds!”

  Fair, I guess, Nar thought to himself, as he proceeded to kill the second wave of defenders.

  “The fire has reached the canopy of the tree,” Kur warned them. “The serpents are starting to panic. Soon, Silver Fists will know.”

  “Mach! Hurry!” Calli exhorted him.

  “Not. Helping!” the vanore said.

  Nar glanced back in between fighting, thrusting his [Instinct], [Reflex] and [Awareness] to keep him safe, and found that Mach had climbed up onto the egg nest. Several eggs were already tumbled on the floor, outside the nest, and the feathered aethermancer was quickly pushing out another of the green ones in his search for a suitable egg.

  Damn, Nar thought, wincing as the egg cracked upon meeting the floor. They really don’t care, huh?

  He knew that they, auramancers, were the weird ones for caring for something that did not have a sapient soul, or for the peerless, if deadly, beauty of the Brightnight, and he wondered if after a few more delves, he would also develop such a practical approach to delving.

  “Guys, the serpents are taking flight with their eggs!” Sej warned. “Careful, they might come for you!”

  “How?” Eum asked, looking around the chamber. “There’s no entrances here?”

  Nar stabbed one of the last two rats, but before he could take care of the last, one of the walls exploded, sending a shrapnel of branches hurtling into the room.

  A loud hiss reached buffeted Nar and he lowered his arm to discover what had made it to the egg chamber.

  “You better hurry, Mach,” he said.

  He flung an [Aura Blade] at the giant serpent’s head, hoping to take its aggro. The beast hissed as the blade pressed against its cheek, but it pulled back from the chamber and left.

  “Is it gone?” Mach asked.

  “No!” Eum and Nar shouted, just as a flurry of air blades came whistling through the opening.

  “Go help him!” Nar shouted at Eum, evading through the razor-sharp air. “I’ll keep it aggroed!”

  “Got it!”

  However, before Eum could take a step, a dozen smaller shapes darted in through the opening, leaving glimmering trails of green and blue and filling the room with wind.