Zilo flips end over end before he suddenly impacts on something squishy and warm. He looks down to see... nothing, absolutely nothing. That is until his eyes blink and glow, signifying that he has switched over to the infrared spectrum of vision called Darkvision, then he looks around to see his five new friends.
Zilo spots that Maldrek has also shifted his eyes to see in the dark, but May, Zigger, Twenty-three, and Alaroc look very wide eyed and scared. Maldrek and Zilo both smile a moment and bump fists before Maldrek walks over to Alaroc and touches his sword.
"Light."
Alaroc unsheathes his sword and the three blind mice look to it and can now see well enough, at least within 20 ft of the blade.
"Where we be?" Says Zigger scurrying until he finds they seem to be on an island like area.
"Seems to me like we are in a stomach." States Zilo looking far past the light's range to see a fleshy lining along the walls. Maldrek takes a book out of a Bag of Holding and begins to thumb through it.
"Giant Dire Frogs are the largest type of frog, normally only reaching horse sized. So this must be some unnatural sort for frog made by magic." Says Maldrek as he thumbs through a book on monsters, titled the Monster Manuel.
Zilo casts Detect Magic and looks around the area before saying, "Yup the frog seems to have been magically altered, and the stomach acid as well. Looks like the stomach acid has Acid elementals living in it."
Maldrek immediately takes out two guns from his bag of holding, but after a few seconds pass he calms down.
"Looks like the elemental are dormant, sorry for scaring you." Says Zilo, smiling apologetically. Maldrek pistol whips Zilo across the back of the head then puts his finger to his chin.
"A moat of acid elementals, ingenious. It would make an acid pool like this many times over more deadly and since this is their home, they refuse to destroy the lining."
"Can we save the admiration for after we get out?" Shouts May, snapping Maldrek out of his trance.
The group looks about for a bit and Zilo comes across a dead skeleton armored gripping a Silvered sword on the platform the arm outside of the acid seems to be in better shape than the skeleton in the acid.
"Find something?" Asks Alaroc who leans in. Zilo looks back to him and responds,
"Yep, looks like our friend here didn't make it out in time, shame too, his armor looks nice. Do you want his sword?"
"Thanks, but no, My shiny blade here is a Dragon Bane Sword from our last dungeon. Good thing too, cause the dragon there nearly killed us."
"Is that why Twenty-two is gone?"
"Too soon man." Says Alaroc wiping a tear off the front of his helm. Zilo grabs the silvered sword and replaces his old one in it's sheathe.
"Hey Alaroc, shine some light over here!" Shouts May from the other side. Zilo and Alaroc rise from their crouch and walk over to May. Once over there Zilo stares into the distance and spots a hole in the stomach lining, as well as some small platforms of flesh leading over to it.
"Looks easy enough," Says Zigger who deftly leaps across the platforms without issue. May follows across as well, not as deftly, but enough to cross.
Maldrek casts the spell Levitate and kicks off the edge off the starting platform, the result makes him float off to the end and then he undoes the spell. Finally all that was left on one side was Zilo, Twenty-three, and Alaroc.
Zilo looks over the 20 foot distance and then at the tiny specs of platforms that Zigger and May used, which are beginning to submerge from the feet that pressed on them.
"Well Hopefully Twenty-three is light on his feet."
"Are you daft? There's no way he can use those, we'll need to jump. Hop on." Says Alaroc as he hoists himself onto Twenty-Three. Zilo Shrugs and hoists himself up and on as well. Alaroc walks about to the edge of the platform and Zilo points his arm toward the correct way since Zilo's vision stretched past the length of the sword's light.
Twenty-three takes off at full speed. Sadly, just before the edge of the platform Twenty-Three manages to trip up and fumble forward. amazingly the whole horse and it's occupants did a full front flip in the air that ended smack dab 5 feet away from the intended destination. The horse was in the acid.
"JUMP!" Shouted Maldrek and spurred on by fear both Zilo and Alaroc abandoned ship. Zilo with his light load managed to make the distance, but Alaroc's armor's weight made his foot catch itself in the edge of the acid.
"AH!" Shouted Alaroc clutching his foot. Zilo quickly removed the Metal boot and looked at the acid covered foot while reaching into his sack and taking out a vial. Zilo quickly uncorks the vial and slashes the green looking contents on Alaroc's foot.
Suddenly Alaroc's pain fades and his screams halt.
"How did you do that? I didn't see a spell." Says Alaroc.
"Umbral Bards are required to be skilled in more than just magic and melodies. We take up many other kinds of trades. I just happen to be rather skilled in herbs and salves to heal that which spells can't mend."
Alaroc smiles as he reattaches his boot, then says, "Bully! Now then perhaps you can help Twenty-thr-."
As Alaroc finishes his statement he looks back to the Acid and sees the skeleton of a horse just past the edge of the platform. Alaroc rushes to the edge, arms down and his mouth under his helm gaping. The rest of the group stares on at the sad scene. Suddenly a sad violin is playing and Alaroc is crying.
Zilo continues to play the somber tune as Alaroc pulls himself together and walks through the hole in the stomach lining. The rest of the group follows through the lining as well. The group follows the fleshy tunnel until they come to an area that for some reason is well lit by a structure in the middle.
In the middle of a large fleshy room is a small cabin with lanterns set up around it.
"Is that a house?" Says May
"It sure looks it." Says Zilo in response.
After a few seconds of staring dumbfounded the group notices a skeletal horse trotting along one side of the cabin. Oddly enough the horse's bones aren't white, but instead black. The group looks at the walking skeleton with uneasy, but Alaroc jumps with joy and runs too it.
"Twenty-three! You're back!" Shouts Alaroc as he runs up to the horse and gives it a hug. Suddenly Alaroc's body is bombarded by some sort of powerful magic that hurts his body. May rushes in behind him and pulls him away from the horse.
"Stay away from it! This horse is charged with negative energy! You'll get yourself killed!" Shouts May as Alaroc rubs his butt after the impact with the ground.
Zilo, Maldrek, and Zigger notice and point out that that horse is not alone. There is another horse walking symmetrically with the black one. This one is also skeletal, but looks to be bright white.
"That one there, must be a positively charged then." Says Maldrek. Zigger avoids both horses and tries to open the door, to no end. Zilo looks at the door with Detect Magic and notices a magical line connected to both circling horses.
"Both horses look to be connected to the door." says Zilo.
Zigger crosses his arms and says, "Maybe we need to ride them both to trigger something. If so then no way am I riding the Black horse."
"Good thinking, Man Zigger, you and I are on the same wavelength or something." Says Zilo, as the Author smiles to himself.
As the group starts arguing over who will get on the black horse, they suddenly turn to see Maldrek is already atop it. They then notice that Maldrek isn't in pain. In response to the groups's wondering stares, Maldrek motions to his horns and says,
"I'm a being of hell, remember? Negative energy is but a light tickle to me." The group all nods in understanding before Alaroc jumps atop the white horse. Suddenly both horses are covered in black and white light and disappear leaving both the riders on the ground holding a white and black bone, respectively.
Zigger once again checks the door, and just as suspected, it is no longer stuck. The group proceeds in with Alaroc going in first. As he leads Alaroc holds the bone lovingly and says, "Welcome to the team, Twenty-four."
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