Another Stupid Spell

Chapter 17

We reached Gully Circle, a broad outdoor market. The center of the cobblestone circle was littered with carts of wares, ranging from foodstuff to hand crafted goods. It was surrounded by converted warehouses, serving as additional merchant space. When rain fell, the peddlers could still take shelter indoors. Today they were trying to weather a different kind of storm.

The crackling of a nearby lightning bolt had already sent merchants and customers alike scurrying for cover. Our escort acted with the kind of precision that one might expect from the most powerful standing army in the southern hemisphere of Panos. Our four mounted archers covered the roads into the Circle, while the two pikemen started patrolling the perimeter. The battlemage and medic found centralized cover near a stack of crates and dug in. Our remaining four swordsmen, one of them being the unit's corporal, led us over to the sewer entrance and pried up the heavy iron lid.

The corporal said, "We'll hold your exit and make sure you have a way out if you need it. Best of luck."

Toby squeezed the man's shoulder, and then threw his pack to me. I grunted under the weight, but swiftly realized why he did it. Although the sewer entrance was wide by our standards, it was a very tight fit for the minotaur. He did make it though after a brief struggle. I dropped his pack in, which was deftly caught. Then I climbed down the metal ladder that had been bolted to the sewer wall.

The smell was what you would expect, but not as intense as I had imagined. Once Will and Rick joined us and cast Light on their marker sticks, I understood why. The water and sludge were barely an inch deep, the remainder draining rapidly for some reason. Ames was the last to drop in, but the first to comment.

The feline noted, "We should go with the flow. If they've really bashed through the sewer wall or floor to reach some caves, it's unlikely that they had the time to seal things properly behind them."

Sewage normally flowed to designated areas of the ocean, which meant it should be travelling either south or west. But the flow in this stretch was oozing its way north. Not only had something been damaged, but the entire passage had sunk at least a few inches. The party trudged northwards as rapidly as we dared.

We found ourselves alone, save for a rat or two. Fifty paces up the tunnel, the only thing that had changed was the sound. A kind of rushing, churning din was growing in our ears. When the radius of our light reached the source of the noise, we understood why.

The sewage coming from the north was plummeting downwards, like a foul waterfall. Whatever magics used to open the tunnel were unsubtle, to say the least. Perhaps this was the work of Arcane Syphons. Perhaps it was a mad geomancer. Either way, the ground had been cracked, lifted, and then torn asunder. Once the bare rock had been exposed, a steep tunnel was conjured to join the sewers to the natural cave network, situated below us and to the east. We continued to follow the flow of sewage, careful not to slip. If any one of us fell and were swept away by the muck, there was no telling what danger that person would encounter.

The arcane passage gave way to a natural cavern. This chamber was at least ten paces high, and easily wide enough for 15 men to walk shoulder to shoulder. Sewage poured onto the rocky floor before draining into the southern chamber and beyond the radius of our light. We had no plans to follow it, however, as we were far more interested in the sounds coming from other direction. Together we navigated the slight incline as the party moved towards the danger, a tendency often observed in the insane, the foolhardy, and adventurers.

As the broad cavern curled in a northeasterly line, a field of light could been seen in the distance. A mix of mundane torches and Light spells cast on rocks left us no shadows to skulk in. With a resigned sigh, Ames moved to the front of our group and stood shoulder-to-ribcage with the much taller paladin. Rick and Will tucked away their Light sticks, as they were about to become redundant.