Call of the Abyss [Book 2 Complete]

"RRRAAA—Ghulg!" the cave crawler exclaimed as it was bisected, its turbid blood splattering the ground and sizzling where it landed.

Ravina launched a quick cut to her left to dislodge the blood from her blade before it could damage the metal. She didn't know if the acrid blood was powerful enough to damage high-steel, but she wasn't willing to take the risk.

High steel, while more expensive than regular steel due to its more mana-accepting nature, was not any stronger than normal steel. Best not to risk such an expensive material for no reason.

She sheathed her sword with a single, fluid motion and began pacing back toward the large, steel gate in the distance. As she walked, she pondered the state of the city. She'd been here a few days now, and she was thoroughly confused by all that she'd seen.

"Give up already, didja?" a guard sneered from the watch platform above the gate.

"Give up? On what? I was told I'd find a challenge down here, but those fuckin' worms suicided themselves into my blade. I killed around forty of them before I got bored.

"No wonder you pissants can barely grip the blades at your waists if that was all you face. Bunch'a soft-hands more fit for your mothers' breasts than any positions of responsibility," Ravina growled.

The guard's face—that was beginning to turn red—paled as he realized what Ravina had just said.

"Forty…" he whispered, looking off into the distance, as though both dubious and afraid.

Good. These "guards" needed to realize they weren't anything special considering they were the first line of defense for this city against the horrors that lurk in the tunnels.

Ravina passed through the gate unmolested, barely even noticing the people, both guards and adventurers, stopping to stare as she walked past. There was something strange going on in this city—something that itched at her like a scabbed wound.

She climbed the Winding Stair that led down from the lowest parts of the city to the tunnels beneath. There was no lift to carry one down, and the stairs were intentionally claustrophobic, with many windings and twists and turns.

The Stair would fit about two adults astride with shoulders either bumping each other or the walls. This design was intended to be a passive defense against invaders from the tunnels.

Cave crawlers weren't the only—nor even the most severe—threat in the Deep Down. There were even entire civilizations of people down there, if you believed the rumors spoken with more ale than words.

When Ravina had first arrived in the city, shortly after Sith disappeared, she'd made her way to the Guild. This was what Ravina did when she entered a new city regardless of circumstances, let alone when her goal was to recruit adventurers for her own mission.

She stood in shock in front of the Guild building for a good five minutes before Gala managed to break her out of her stupor. The building was massive, made of a polished black stone that gleamed in the torchlight, the polish so fine that the stones reflected her own dumbstruck visage.

The building rose up on a black stone foundation gilded with a sweeping inlay of golden swirls and twists that were purely decorative, rather than for any kind of enchantment. Huge gargoyles of intimidating black stone, also polished to a reflective sheen and carved in the image of monsters she'd never encountered, stood sentinel on either side of the grand entryway, which would fit better in a royal's palace than a Guild Hall.

The building as a whole was shaped like the grand cathedrals Ravina had seen in far off cities that worshipped this-or-that deity. Her understanding was that those cathedrals were grand and ostentatious purposefully, to inspire both awe and fear in their worshippers. Though, she suspected that wealth was the deity being worshipped in this particular sanctuary.

Entering through the grand doors, Ravina found that the garish architecture inside matched the outside.

Huge pillars. marbled in whites and blacks like intertwining snakes, and trimmed with more golden inlays, held up high, vaulted ceilings that very much matched what she remembered of cathedrals. Arches and beams and many intricacies adorned the ceiling, while huge chandeliers of gold, silver, and crystal hung down on golden chains—all lit with magical lights.

Ravina noted that the layout was completely impractical for an adventurer facility. The multitudes of desks that adventurers would stand at to accept and hand in quests were split up by the huge pillars dominating the hall. Lines would be required to split and bend around them, and it would be nigh impossible to wheel even a modest hand-truck through the hall if one had large monster parts to be appraised or sold.

Rimming the perimeter of the hall were balconies that Ravina could see lounges and restaurants dotting. Though the restaurants were enclosed, there were many lounges that opened to the hall, in which she could see sturdy furniture of rich woods (an expensive commodity in a town of stone built in a desert) and stone, upholstered with rich and (likely) plush fabrics.

A gargantuan fountain in the center of the hall commanded attention, as it spewed and burbled water. This kind of enormous fountain was something you would only find in large public gathering places around the city, as water—despite access to underground sources—was a precious resource in deserts. This, more than anything, spoke to the wealth flowing through this Guild, and to the attitude and values of its masters.

"Unbelievable…" Ravina muttered under her breath, horrified by what she was seeing.

"Right?! Isn't it beautiful?! Could use some green, though…maybe over there…" Gala mumbled to herself as she began wandering the hall, looking for places that a plant would appease her sense of aesthetics.

Ravina could only shake her head at Gala's misunderstanding. The girl was clearly not an adventurer, so Ravina wouldn't hold it against her.

The most horrifying thing wasn't the grand establishment of the Guild itself, though. It was the lack of use the building was seeing. There were plenty of adventurers milling about, but they moved as if there was no hurry. They laughed and joked as if the day would wait for them.

There were only a few lined up at the multitude of open desks, which could indicate that most were out on jobs, but Ravina suspected that wasn't the case. The lounges she could see on the balcony were filled to bursting, adventurers lounging and chatting casually on them.

They clinked with jewelry, and armor (on those who even bothered wearing any) shone with a gleam that spoke of multiple high-end enchantments. The engravings on the armor she could see from this distance didn't all appear completely functional, like enchantments. There was no detectable damage or wear on any equipment that she could see, as though it had never seen any real use.

These looked more like the royals she'd been unfortunate enough to have to protect on the odd escort mission than battle-hardened adventurers.

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"Slow day?" Ravina asked good-naturedly as she approached the counter.

Truthfully, she wouldn't have had as much issue with the opulence and lackadaisical attitudes were it not for Sith's prior warning about greed and corruption. A successful Guild spoke of a safe city and well-fed adventurers, which was nothing she'd normally complain about. This, though, was something else. It stirred some kind of subconscious recognition in the back of her mind of wrongness.

"Hmm? Oh, not particularly. You must be new here," the gentleman behind the desk said. His words were polite, but the way he looked her up and down suggested that the reason he knew she was a newcomer was the quality of her gear.

"I am. Just blew into town with the desert wind this morning. What's the job situation like here? Good pickins?" she asked casually.

"Well, there's only one job that people really do here. Cave Crawlers—the dwarves call them Grûmvelk—have been swarming the gates in the lower tunnels for decades now. They're tough, but their hides, blood, and meat are extremely valuable.

"The dwarves use their acidic blood in their stone craft, as well as in some kind of alchemy—though that last bit is just a rumor. The SoDD isn't beholden to the Guild, after all—who knows what they do or don't do with the blood? We don't really care as long as they pay for it.

"The hides are tougher than leather and more resistant to ancillary effects like acid, which is helpful for combating the worms, as I'm sure you can imagine.

"The meat is prized not so much for its taste, but because a tiny amount of residual acid lingers in it. The acid has a compounding effect with preservation processes like drying that prevents spoilage for a long time—years, even.

"Fighting these cave crawlers is both a great source of income for everyone involved, and a consistent supply of experience toward one's Class. It's a win-win for everyone," he concluded triumphantly. Ravina found it strange that he seemed so proud, but she supposed that it was natural to take pride in the place one lived.

"I see. That makes sense. There are a great many adventurers I can see in the lounges and, I assume, the restaurants. Are they not worried about leaving the tunnels short of manpower?" she asked, motioning to the balcony with her chin.

"Oh, no. They're simply waiting their turn. You see, there are only so many tunnels beneath the city, and those tunnels are only so wide. The quests for crawler elimination are issued by the city, and the city dictates how many adventuring parties may accept the commissions due to space restrictions," he explained.

"Gotcha—fair enough. Is there a list I can put my name on to participate in these jobs?" she asked, showing her Mithril badge to the worker.

"Ah, an elite! Always a pleasure to meet a foreign talent! Of course, I can put your name down immediately. There are many in front of you, but the Guild imposes a time limit on each group. The crawlers come pretty consistently, so it would be easy for one group to monopolize a tunnel.

"The Guild began imposing time limits to each group's commission in the interest of fairness, so your wait shouldn't be more than a day," he said, writing something down on a piece of paper—paper was also very expensive—that glowed when he finished.

An enchanted piece of paper—that was even more expensive, and it degraded quickly. You'd have to stock a great many sheets to make everyday use even remotely practical. There was gratuitous wealth on display in even mundane ways.

"Thanks for your help," she said, nodding slightly. He smiled and nodded back, and she made for the gilded sign above an equally-gilded door that read "Library." Thankfully, she'd managed to keep her accent under control. She didn't know with certainty, but the atmosphere of this place suggested she might be looked down on if she spoke too "crudely."

She thought to grab Gala but thought better of it. Ravina was not the strongest reader under normal circumstances, let alone with Gala hovering over her.

Ravina shook the memory from her mind as the stone stair beneath her boots came back into focus. She made it to the first landing of the Stair as she came out of her reverie. This first landing was a wide room carved straight out of the stone. There were a few businesses as well as a garrison stationed here to supply troops or sell to adventurers venturing into the tunnels.

"About forty corpses for collectin' down there," Ravina shouted to the people lounging around the various benches and resting points. "Packers" was what the local adventurers called them, as they made their living by ferrying the worm corpses to the appropriate SoDD-controlled facility.

Apparently, the wealth from the corpses was enough that adventurers thought it worthwhile to contract out grunt work like corpse collection. This was doubly the case for Ravina, since she—as a Mithril—could hold the entire tunnel herself. She definitely didn't want to collect dozens of worm corpses alone.

"You don't have to lie to impress anyone here, young lady," a lilting voice called out, patronizing.

A man practically glowing with shiny armor and custom enchantments sauntered over. He had neck-length wavy blonde hair and shining blue eyes. His lips were curled in a patronizing smile that he probably thought was charming, and the way he walked suggested he thought he was the embodiment of the "heroes of old" or whatever—a priss, Ravina thought.

"Sorry, what the fuck did I even say that'd be considered impressive?" Ravina asked, genuinely confused. All she'd done was kill worms, which was (apparently) what every adventurer in this city did.

One of the man's eyebrows quirked up, but he maintained his confident facade.

"Truly, you must be desperate to impress. Have you just achieved Mithril Rank? Is that why you strive for a good impression? I have been Mithril for over a year, and I certainly could not dispatch forty worms on my own. If you are going to boast, might I suggest that you at least make it believable?" he said with his hand by his mouth, feigning a whisper.

"If you're Mithril and can't take down forty worms that fuckin' throw themselves at your blade," she said, motioning to the large two-handed sword on his back, "I have to question the standards by which this Guild branch measures rank."

The man's facade dropped, and his face began to color. He opened his mouth to respond, but Ravina cut him off.

"I know you probably think yourself some kind of princeling, but you're nothing—nobody. I've nothing to prove to you, and I've no interest in bantering with a useless fop who disgraces the Rank he boasts of," she said, starting forward again.

His face, approaching a shade of purple now, twisted into a sneer. He started toward her and began drawing his sword from his back.

"If that's what you think—" he stopped, noticing Ravina's sword sliding back into her sheath at her waist—when had she drawn it?

"Wha—" he started, stopping as blood dripped down into his eyes. He reached up to touch his face, finding a small slit cut across his forehead. It was very thin—it would probably fully heal in a few days—but the head was prone to dramatic bleeding.

"Worthless," Ravina scathed quietly as she passed him, heading for the other end of the landing where the Stair continued up to the city-proper.

The man held his forehead with one hand while he spun around and around, like a dog chasing its own tail, listening to and trying to think of a way to counter the muted conversations around the room. Unfortunately, a great many people had seen his disgrace.

When he turned back around, deciding the only thing for it was to reclaim his honor from the one who'd taken it, Ravina was already gone. He had such a high opinion of himself that the reality that he—and the entire confrontation—was already gone from her mind would never occur to him.

Ravina stalked up the stairs deep in thought. She'd read about the crawlers thoroughly before taking this job—she was no rookie, after all.

They were snakelike in shape, with a pair of reptilian arms toward the top of their bodies—close to their heads, which had no eyes. The most distressing of their features were their multiple rows of serrated teeth, rather than the fangs of a snake.

They were solitary ambush predators, according to the dossier. They would lurk in the shadows of the tunnels and launch themselves spinning through the air toward prey that ventured too close. When they latched onto prey, their serrated teeth tore it to shreds—or at least tore a large chunk out of flesh.

The dwarves called this spin the Vrak'Grûm—the death whirl.

However, what Ravina had heard around the Guild, and what she observed firsthand in the tunnel, were worms that rushed the tunnel gates in large packs. There was nothing stealthy about them. The fabled death whirl that the dwarves wrote about in fear became a suicidal leap into an adventurer's blade. This behavior did not match what the records showed.

Something strange was going on both within the city, and below it.