Chapter 202: Swamp of Sorrows

“Ok, I prefer Aranaea’s type o’ bug tae this shite,” Kat grumbled, smacking another midge that wanted a taste of her cheek.

They’d been trudging through the sickening swamp for an hour. Their lower halves were absolutely caked with mud, water, decaying plant matter, and Gods know what else. It was awful.

The only upside was that the Warped had been mostly tame, so far. The paths Lucia had found before were gone, but no trees had made their tentacular ambushes. At one point, a group of brightly coloured lizards had tried splashing them with poison, but Rosalyn had spotted them ahead of time.

Then there were the frogs. Well, more toads, as Rosalyn had pointed out during a thorough dissection. They’d hidden in the mud, only their eyes visible above the surface. As soon as anyone got close enough, they’d lash out with their tongues, holding their victim in place as the rest showered them with bony projectiles. The worst part was that they were really hard to spot and even harder to react to when they attacked. Kat had been put to work protecting Rosalyn when she’d been snared, the warrior’s shield whirling as she defended the Druid. Lucia had taken out several of the creatures, and from that point forward, had taken point. Her natural skills allowed her to spot several more, killing them before they had a chance to attack again. They were ambushers, though. If the party could avoid getting close, they were safe. Making it out of that area had everyone on edge.

“I know. Soft and tender in all the right places. Hard and girthy in the others.” Rosalyn was having probably the worst time of it out of everyone. Her stature meant everything went that much higher on her, and more of her legs got caught each time she set a foot down. Carrying her wasn’t an option either, since more weight on one person could make the sinking worse and potentially hazardous.

“I believe we are close, though. The moss is growing thicker on the trees. Yes, I agree with the confidence, Lucia.”

The Thrundol just nodded. Ann was kind of jealous of their bond. It had to be nice to send someone a feeling of support without having to speak.

“Sooner we have that dead, the sooner we can get out, and the sooner we get you two out of here so the Gods can do whatever they need to.” Ann was pretty damn confident the pantheon would be intervening as they did with Kat and Rosalyn, but part of her worried they wouldn’t.

“Don’t. Hope good. Focus real,” Lucia said. “Be ready for worst.”

“Yeah. Still, wonder what it’ll be for you two.” Ann couldn’t help the curiosity. Kat had been assigned a dragon, Rosalyn a Satyr. Would it continue the mythological trend or veer into something else?

“Bettin’ Lucia’s some kind o’ bird,” said Kat as she hacked through a dense section of vines. “It’d fit wit’ the whole scout thing she’s got goin’ on.”

“Maybe good for her gun, too? Better line of sight?” Rosalyn suggested.

“Recoil bad, though. Need balance.”

“Eh, ye can practise that. If it’s not that, then some kind o’ lizard.”

“And why, Katlyn, would you suggest such a thing?” Bren sounded legitimately offended. “We already have one in the party.”

“Hey, well… aye, I’ll give ye that one. Was thinkin’ about blendin’ in tae things, and they do it pretty well.”

“Fair,” Lucia shrugged. “Bren cat.”

Ann couldn’t help letting out a bark of laughter. “Yeah, that fits! He likes the warm, gets kinda huffy, and is all proper. Yeah, cat boy for sure!”

“Think you’ll get a tail first?” Rosalyn asked eagerly. “None of us besides Ann has one. Guessing Kat’ll get it soon enough, but maybe not. I dunno where the rest of me is headed, but tail is happening if Xirali’s anything to go by. Hope I don’t get skinny like she does, though.”

“Ears,” Lucia said, suppressing a laugh.

“Ooh, cute li’l blonde ears on the top? Sounds feckin’ adorable, eh, Bren?”

“You all are horrific. I will find out when it happens, not a moment before. Contemplating possible futures only leads to anxiety.”

“Ah ye’re no fun. Let me jus… Down!” Kat hissed.

Ann had heard it too. A buzzing droned further ahead of them. “Bees?”

“Bugs,” Lucia nodded.

“Gods damnit, if it’s a swarm, that’ll be yer speciality, Rosalyn. Do what ye can, an’ we’ll protect ye.”

“If I could get some solid footing, I could check ahead,” Ann offered.

“Don’t see any. No chance.” Lucia shook her head.

“Intae the jacker’s nest we go.” Kat sighed, steeling herself, then moved forward.

They tried to be as quiet as they could, but it was a swamp. They made a lot of noise.

The buzzing grew louder. If it were just one creature, it would have to be gargantuan. Ann’s ears were twitching everywhere, trying to track what felt like dozens of droning sources.

A patch of land, dry, with blessed stone, came into view. What also came into view was exactly what Ann didn’t want to see. Resting on that patch of stone was the largest wasp she had ever seen. It was the size of a horse. Angry black-and-yellow striped patterns covered its insectoid body. Looking further back at its body, Ann found the source of the droning. It had an abdomen. An abdomen made of flesh. Red, irritated, oozing pus with a myriad of holes bored into it. Holes, Ann realised with a sinking horror, that bored into faces. Hundreds of them. Mouths and eyes stared blankly outward as smaller wasps crawled in and out of the cavities.

“No, no, no,” Rosalyn whispered. “We kill that or run away. I hate everything about that. Congratulations, it’s beaten the Chittering Crawlers. Nope!”

An antenna flicked, and the party flinched.

“Lucia, ye seein’ what I am?”

“Yes.”

“What?” Ann whispered.

“The moss. This is the centre. That’s the feckin’ Guardian.”

“Already? That was fast.”

“We’ve been in ‘ere fer hours,” Kat pointed out. “Even if the temple weren’t ‘ere, this’d be normal fer a smaller Seed.”

“Fair. Forgot how quick the forest one was. So what the fuck do we do with that?”

“Rosalyn, can ye fry the back end o’ the bitch an’ take out the smaller ones?”

“Can try. It’s a Warped, though. If those are part of its body, they’re going to come back.”

“Aye, but that’ll give us time tae rush it an’ kill the main body.”

“A Guardian will not be so easy,” Bren warned.

“I feckin’ know,” Kat grumbled. “Once it’s up an’ movin’, we do our best tae kill it.”

“I’m seeing a couple more hives in the trees,” Ann whispered. She pointed out six that she could see. “Lucia, can you drop those?”

“Can. Will alert.”

“Yeah, do that as we’re moving up,” Ann suggested. “Hopefully that’ll cut down on swarmers.”

“Please attempt not to be stung, either,” Bren said. “I only have two uses of my curative after the temple.”

“Easy, right? Don’t get hit,” Ann laughed. “Any idea what else the thing has in store?”

“I did not read up on this one particularly, just the general details. The Guardian should have multiple forms, though. That seems to be consistent. I pray that this one does not have surprises as the one in Edmonton did.”

Ann grimaced, thinking of the pale hutaur. “Right. Ready check?”

One by one, the party confirmed their status.

Ann had full resources, but was running low on her Libido. She was only at ten out of her potential one hundred and ninety-five after their session with Aranaea drained the resource pool. Predatory Sensuality would be needed here if her Smite was going to do serious damage. Just gotta be slutty for the giant monster wasp. Yeah, that’ll be easy.

“Heeeey, Kat?” Ann drawled, eyes narrowing as she got an idea.

“Huh?” Kat’s head swivelled, then her jaw dropped. “Ann! Ye! What?” the warrior sputtered.

“I’ll let you suck on them tonight,” Ann said, pulling the top of her armour back into place, covering her chest. “Boop!”

“Ow!” Kat flinched. “Ye teasin’ bitch. Let’s get this o’er wit’.”

At least it was for Kat, and not the Wasp.

“After me.” Kat moved out and did her best to charge the Guardian. None of them moved remarkably quickly as they raced forward.

The creature’s antennae twitched, and its head snapped around, facing them with bulbous insect eyes. Its mandibles chittered together, then hissed. Heaving its oversized abdomen, the iridescent wings blurred into motion. Wind buffeted them as Lucia took her first shot, downing one of the surrounding nests. Two more followed, splashing into muddy water.

Off the ground, the Wasp was much quicker. Instead of rushing at them, like Ann thought it would, it rose and hovered away from them. It kept its distance until they reached the rocky patch, head twitching side to side.

As soon as Kat set foot on the rock, though, it lunged.

“Shite!” Kat grunted, catching a stinger as long as Ann’s arm on her shield.

Ann finally got up onto the ground, but the Guardian had backed away before she could strike.

The same was not to be said of Rosalyn or Lucia. Blades of wind and bullets peppered the sky as the ranged members of the party got to work.

Ann stood there, then drew her pistol and began trying to help. Compared to the two with skills for this, she didn’t do much, but it was better than just standing there awkwardly.

Annoyed at being pelted, the Wasp zipped to the left, then right, then slammed its mandibles into Kat’s shield.

Retaliating, Kat got her sword locked between joints and strained as she held the creature in place. “Now!”

Rosalyn’s lighting flashed up and over the Wasp. A crack of thunder, and the fleshy abdomen was smouldering. Dead wasps, still large, but not much more than the average insect, fell from gaping mouths and eyes.

Ann couldn’t wait for another chance. She got in and raked her gauntlets across the Guardian’s thorax. She scored white marks into the carapace, but it held.

Long legs whipped out and tried to claw at her, forcing her to focus on dodging.

Kat’s grip failed, and the Wasp pulled free of the grapple with an annoyed chatter. Slender wings blurred into action, and it darted away!

“Gods damnit! This thing is pissing me off!” Kat howled after the Guardian as it hovered out of reach.

“Down!” Lucia shouted. Magic flared from Fillianore. Green instead of white. The impact struck the hornet despite its attempt at dodging. Vines whipped out from the impact point, lashing downwards into the muck. The Guardian strained against creaking plants, but they held firm.

“Too strong. Can’t pin.”

“It’s better than nothing.” Ann reloaded her pistol and took careful aim. A trio of purple magic bullets struck the creature along with half a dozen wind blades.

The Guardian reeled. Its wings faltered for a brief moment. That opening let the vines tug the monster a foot or so lower before it regained control.

Rosalyn gathered her magic and let loose another bolt of electric death.

The Guardian took it with a hissing clatter of mandibles. Ann could see anger in those black multifaceted eyes. It hated them.

Suddenly, it stopped flying. Vines pulled it down, and it splashed chaotically into the water.

“What?” Bren asked, running up to join them.

“This isn’t over. No way. It was still moving when it went down. Something’s happening.” Rosalyn moved up to Ann’s side, staff gripped firmly in her hands. “Bubbles are spreading. See? Left and right from the main impact point. Some are behind as well. Dividing? Is it splitting itself up?”

“Slimes can do it. Why not these things?” Kat grumbled.

As if to answer their question, the large black-and-yellow head surfaced. As the muck ran off its eyes, it turned to chitter at them again.

“Guess it’s not dead. That’s… bad,” Ann said, backing up.

Gurgling sounds came from their left. Ann’s ears turned to catch more from the right as she checked on the left. More behind them! Surrounding them!

“The feck did it do?” Kat asked, her ears twitching as she tracked the sounds.

To her right, Ann saw a bubble of mud slowly expanding. It was about twenty feet from the Wasp, and much smaller. It grew larger and larger until it burst with a sickly pop. A form fell into the water. Something Ann couldn’t quite make out with all the mud until it rose, buzzing, above the surface.

It was a frog, not unlike the ones from before. Wait, toad. Rosalyn would get mad at the misattribution. It was big, maybe three feet wide and about as long, brown, covered in warts that concealed spines. Usually, their heads were flat, making them easier to hide. This… thing, however, had a massive bulge atop its skull. Torn flesh hung from the hive as wasps swarmed across it and the creature’s body. Ann could see remnants of the skull at the top of the hive, integrated into the ridged, many-layered structure. It croaked, and a swarm of angry insects flew out towards the group.

Kat caught them on her shield, but they weren’t a solid mass. The cloud split. Wasps crawled over Kat as she flailed and screamed.

Ann did her best to fight them off, but she was literally punching at flies. Fists could only do so much!

The swarm dissipated, leaving an extremely pissed-off Kat seething at the frog.

“Get yer asal bog o’er here so I can gut yer gizzard ya overblown gasbag!”

The toad croaked.

Lucia’s rifle barked. The hive exploded in a mess of flesh and muddy matter. Collapsing into the water, the host body of the hive sank below the surface.

“At least that’s over. Where’s the Guardian?” Rosalyn asked.

“You had to say that,” Ann groaned.

Five more bubbles erupted. One held a shambling corpse, the woman’s body nearly unrecognisable from decay. Lodged in her chest, sticking out where her heart should be, was another hive. Grotesque, pus-filled bulges on her stomach swelled and burst, leaking yellow discharge and another swarm of stinging pain.

“More of them!” Bren yelled.

Ann spun to see even more behind them. Humans, alligators, swamp cats, and some awful monkey creature with teeth far too large for its jaw. All of them were walking hives for the hornets.

“Kat, you and I take these. Rosalyn and Lucia, find the Guardian and put it down!” Ann shouted.

“Aye. I’m sick o’ standin’ ‘ere.” Kat charged forward into the mud surrounding the island. “Keep ‘em safe, Bren!”

“Will do!”

Ann leapt off the island rather than trudging to her first target. It was a reptile she’d thought was an alligator, but had fish scales instead of its regular armour plating. The insidious hive animating the thing was lodged in its chest, spreading its ribs wider than they should and snapping its spine in two. At least it was an easy target.

Ann’s gauntlet crunched through mud, bone, and muscle as she drove it home. She knew this was going to hurt. Punching a beehive was never a good idea. Still, it didn’t prepare her.

Dozens of wasps exploded from the ruined nest. They crawled all over her, biting and stinging every bit of exposed flesh they could get at. Getting inside her helmet, they got at her face, her ears, everywhere!

Panic boiled inside her as she ripped off the armoured face mask and screamed. Bren was healing her, but it wasn’t just the damage. It felt awful. The little legs, their beating wings all over her. Then they left. As quickly as they attacked, they swarmed away back into the forested mire.

“They’ve got a timer!” Ann called back, huffing as she tried to calm herself. “Just gotta hold on!”

“Good tae know!” Kat shouted back, sounding almost as freaked out. “Rosalyn’s right. This is the worst!”

“Told you!”

“Ye find the thing yet?”

“No! It’s staying underwater! I can’t see it at all! Maybe if we kill the hives?”

“Do it!” Ann shouted back, making her way to the next corpse.

The woman’s body was quickly dissolving as she birthed more and more insects. Thankfully, they weren’t terribly fast. Ann had to dodge out of the way as feeble arms flailed at her. The woman didn’t look strong enough to do damage, but maybe there was something else?

That something else hit her on her lower back. Another toad had emerged and slapped her back with its sticky tongue. That moment of distraction was all the lady’s corpse needed to wrap her arms around Ann and hug her tight.

Ann tried to push her off, but found the thing way too strong. She tried to get an angle to hit the hive, but they were too close! The sound of hundreds of tiny legs crawling on her armour sent fear down her spine. Biting this thing wasn’t an option, so she just took her fists and did the best she could to hug the thing back.

Stings spread from her chest, starting to travel down her stomach as the swarm crawled in.

Ann squeezed harder.

Bites and wounds on her arms popped up in angry red.

Ann felt ribs, fragile from sitting in the water for so long, snap.

More crawled up onto her face.

The hive crumpled in a cloud of dust. The woman’s corpse fell with a splash.

Ann let out a terrified scream as the swarm covered her.

Remember the timer. It’s going to be ok! she tried to tell herself. Her mind went elsewhere. Somewhere warm, before all of this. Happy, comfortable. Then the wasps were gone.

Heaving a sigh of relief, she opened her eyes again, tore the tongue off her back, and shot the toad. She missed the hive, but it croaked and swam away.

Taking a moment, she looked back at the island just in time to see Lucia standing there, rifle shoved against her chest, as a stinger embedded itself in her stomach.

The Guardian pulled back, lifting off above the island.

Lucia fell to the ground, red running from her stomach.