The Temple
We all finally came to feeling groggy and with foggy memories. As we pulled ourselves together, I tried to remember what happened. I laughed and elbowed Meril.
"Hey Meril, remember when I started petting you? That was crazy."
She rubbed her temples and looked up at me.
"Uh... wait.... No, that was Grip you were petting. And you were talking about how soft and cuddly he was. Then he started hugging you and laughing about how it tickled and then Gemlight got confused and hopped onto Grip's back and started nuzzling him and... it's a blur after that."
I paused as I tried to remember said events.
"Oh yeah... awesome."
As everyone started talking about the crazy stuff we'd done under the influence Leaflet began getting her bearings. She whistled and said,
"We're almost there. It's only an hour long trek to the temple."
We all cheered and eagerly set off, ready to reach our goal before more trouble reared its ugly head. Leaflet proved correct as within a few minutes a large, stone structure could be seen through the trees. We approached the front door and Leaflet was about to open it, when I stopped her.
"Give me a second."
Now, I've played enough video games and seen enough Indian Jones movies to know you always check for boobytraps. Fortunately for us, I knew a spell that would hopefully help me see any magical discrepancies with this place and avoid an icky, painful end. After I cast "Libriva" I checked along the door, looking for some sort of mechanism or tripwire my magic sight would reveal.
The doors themselves didn't show anything, but the first row of paving stones along the floor had a brighter glow to them. Meaning, either they were enchanted, or they had empty space below them. Either way, a big no-no. I held up a claw and waved the group back before slowly opening the door. I motioned for everyone to stand clear of the doorway before pressing myself against the outside wall. I summoned my sword and used it to press down one of the tiles while remaining behind cover. No sooner had I done this than spears shot out of the doorframe. Everyone looked nervous as the spears retracted into the walls again.
"Right. Don't touch the first row of paving stones or you'll become a shish-kabob."
Everyone nodded before we all circled up and started discussing who was going in and who was making camp further away so we'd have someplace to bring the loot. We all knew Sunny wasn't going in the dark, creepy ruin, but we hadn't determined who was staying with her. I elected Gem stay (I didn't want someone as young as her getting herself killed trying to prove something) ,but she wanted to come with us.
"Drake! You can't make me stay! I want to help you find the treasure!"
"You saw those spears, right! I really don't want to have to retrieve you from something even worse!"
"But nopony else knows any light spells!"
"I can see in the dark and Cinders can make a torch."
"But what if some trap is that the whole place is filled with burny stuff that makes it that torches kill you! He should stay to protect the camp and the treasure. He's good with magic and he knows how to do it."
Unfortunately, she had a point. We didn't know if that would happen and neither Sunny or Gem knew how to make camp or protect it from either wildlife or thieves. Reluctantly, we agreed Cinders should stay at the camp.
With that out of the way, we entered the temple. Me in the lead, using my "Libriva" spell to see in the dark and look out for traps, Leaflet behind me, then Gem using her magic to provide light, then Grip, Meril, and finally Cleghorn at the back. I navigated us around two more traps before something went wrong. I'd seen a bright light on the wall coming from a gem, but just figured it was a lantern of some sorts. As soon as I walked in front of it, I heard a click and darts shot from the wall and hit me from the side. I jumped before breaking the gem with my sword and looking myself over. I seemed to be alright and, due to the large pile of broken darts at me feet, unscathed.
"Thank goodness for scales. I'd be a pincushion right now if not for them."
Leaflet picked up a dart and sniffed it.
"Poison. If anyone else would have been hit by them, they would be dead. Try to be more careful."
I nodded and we continued. It was smooth sailing from there with no more traps of any kind. Eventually, we entered a gargantuan, hexagonal room. In a far corner a veritable mountain of gold. I whistled in appreciation as everyone looked over the impressive loot. Grip nodded and said,
"Not a bad haul. Definitely better than some."
Before anyone could react, a long, pink something wrapped around my ankle and tugged me off my feet and began dragging me across the ground. Out of the shadows of one of the corners of the room could be seen the head of some sort of massive toad. I conjured my sword and tried to slice through its tongue only for my blade to slide off it without cutting. I finally reached it and could see exactly what we were dealing with. Squatting in a deep pool of water in the darkest corner was a colossal, warty, and very fat toad. Its skin was the color of a rotting log and very shiny with ropes of translucent slime dripping off of its chin and pouring off its sides. It flicked its tongue and flipped me into the air before attempting to swallow me whole like a fly.
Now, when I say it was colossal, you might not realize exactly how big it was. It was as high as a two story house and about twice as wide. For scale, the room we were in was roughly a bit larger than a football field with an extremely high ceiling, so the toad obviously had room to hop about, and probably get even bigger. Its mouth, when open, was like a massive, pale two car garage, with a dark tunnel in the back. I reached out and grabbed hold of the edge of its mouth but its slime made me lose my grip. With a damp "slap" its mouth closed, plunging me into darkness.
I desperately clawed at the soft, slimy tissue of its mouth, trying to keep myself from sliding down its gullet. The toad gulped and a literal tidal wave of goo washed me down its throat. My claws simply slid off the thick layer of slime it had as I picked up speed on my downward journey.
You know, I've heard some people have a weird fetish for being swallowed whole by some giant creature. If you're reading this and have that fetish let me clear some stuff up for you. Upon examination, I can kinda, sorta, maybe understand why some find the concept arousing. Heck, I asked someone once and they said that the concept of being squeezed by the soft, warm inside of something while being covered in warm, sticky fluid just turned them on. But they don't have firsthand experience. Here are the many downsides: one, it smells awful. Bile general isn't something people want a scented candle of. Two, stomach acid is slimy, sticky, and BURNS! When not diluted (aka empty stomach) stomach acid is a freaking strong acid. That stuff dissolves everything. Heck, it had worked through the spaces between my scales already and was stinging despite having just fallen in. And finally, it tastes AWEFUL. I had the misfortune of getting some in my mouth and it was so bad, it made me sick. After I finished throwing up, I realized I'd dropped my sword on the way down. With a flash, it was in my hand. I stood up and the top of my head barely pressed up against the top of the toad's stomach. I could hear muffled yelling outside before gravity fell away and then suddenly returned, sending me under the acid again. I broke the surface and began hacking and stabbing at the lining of the stomach as fast as I could. Everything just harmless slid off the thick mucus along the stomach walls and threw my weapon out of my hands. I raised my hand and barked "Quoira!" The spell didn't even fire as the slime drained my magic before it could build up. I grit my teeth and wracked my head for a solution.
Alright, swords and spells won't work. My claws just slide off, and I can feel myself dissolving which FREAKING HURTS! Honestly, if I wasn't filled with adrenaline right now I'd probably curl into a ball and scream at the pain. If my sword or my knife were outside of this thing I'd just warp out, but I don't have a marker and don't want to die by magical mishap. How am I going to--
I was interrupted by the toad jumping again and submerging me in acid. Unfortunately, this time, my eyes were open. If any of you wear contacts, you know how much it hurts to have a tear in your contact. Imagine that, but magnified by one thousand. Or getting soap in your eyes except so much worse. I screamed and desperately started trying to clean my eyes, but every part of me was covered in slime and acid.
"SCREW IT! WYRP!"
The world distorted and my panicking mind tried to set a destination. Good news, I was completely in the treasure room, not halfway through a wall. Bad news, I was pretty high up in the air, or so it appeared through the tears. I felt weightless as I fell before landing with a squelch on the back of the toad. I slid off and landed on the floor, clutching my eyes. I managed to get a glimpse of the pool of water from before and lunged for it. I immediately submerged and began trying to rid myself of the burning acid. Once my skin and eyes were no longer dissolving, I resurfaced and surveyed the battle.
Everyone must have figured out that attacking the thing didn't do squat given their weapons were covered in slime and they weren't attacking it anymore. What had probably been a fierce battle at first had now devolved into a game of cat and mouse with my friends trying to avoid being squashed by the toad's jumping and dodging slime the toad would spit at them. I could see that the toad was trying to get them stuck to the floor so it could crush them, but so far sheer numbers had helped them avoid it. Since neither Meril or Grip were flying, and they were both covered in slime, I figured their wings were too damp and heavy to fly anymore. As I watched, the toad finally scored a hit with its slime. It had learned how to lead its shots and nailed Leaflet with a glob of goo. The shot sent her flying and left her floundering to pull herself from the mound of slick mucus. The toad leapt towards her, prepared to crush her with its monstrous girth. I held up my claw and said "Dro." She instantly flew out of the pile and landed in the water beside me. Just in time too, given the toad landed with a crash and a splat not three seconds later. Leaflet floundered in the water before I held her, panting and exhausted in my arms. She looked up at me and gasped,
"Drake! *pant* how did *gasp* you--"
"Not important, how are you holding up?"
She didn't respond but instead went limp as she passed out from exhaustion. I honestly shouldn't be surprised she was out given she wasn't actually a fighter at all. I swam to the other side, away from the fight, and set her in a corner where she'd be safe. With her out of harms way, I turned back to the fight and started trying to come up with a strategy. As I watched, I saw the toad leap into the air again and attempt to crush Meril. As it landed and its whole body jiggled, globs of slime went flying and splattered the floor around it. I continued to watch as more of its thick, viscous goo poured off its body and coated the floor in a slick hazard. It wasn't an uncommon sight to see someone slip in the goo and scrabble to get back up while avoiding the toad.
"Okay, its slime is so thick and sticky it can turn blades. It's too fat and large to bludgeon to death, and it can swallow anyone whole, which would be certain death for anyone who got ingested."
I watched as its tongue shot out and narrowly missed Cleghorn. It looked and saw that more people were moving around its sides so it lifted itself off the ground and shook itself like a dog, sending ropes of slime flying in all directions. More slime poured down its body in sluggish waves as it turned to find its next target.
"If only there was a way to remove its slime for just a second! The stuff's thicker than tar!"
Wait, tar... tar is super sticky and gooey... until it hardens. Then you can break large chunks of it with a hammer! I need to harden its slime! But how?! Wait... what if I... oh, that might work.
I looked around and spotted a mound of goo that was slowly flowing into a puddle. I got out of the water and approached it before pointing at it.
"Quelt." (Cool/freeze)
The goo stopped flowing as it froze. I drew back and punched it as hard as I could. It shattered like glass.
"Now we're cooking with gas!"
I looked at the ground and plotted out a course that would let me avoid the slippery slime. I waited until its side was facing me before running at it, sword in hand and preparing to cast my spell.
"Quelt!" (Cool/freeze)
I saw a large patch of slime freeze onto its skin which drew a surprised croak from the toad. I closed the distance and punched the frozen patch as hard as possible. The slime shattered and fell off with a sound of tinkling glass. I immediately slashed my sword across the exposed area, cutting a deep gash. I continued hacking and slashing until the toad lept away, thick drops of blood raining from its side. I heard shouting and saw everyone pointing at me.
"Drake! You're alive! We thought you were toad chow for sure!"
I snorted and turned to face the toad before replying.
"This toad's about to learn why you don't TICK OFF A DRAGON!"
With my magic freezing the slime, my companions made short work of the toad. I mainly stuck to the back, conserving my strength as I froze its slime over and over. Finally, as the toad suffered heavy blood loss, I froze its entire head. Cleghorn lept into the air and decapitated it with a swing of his massive claymore.
We stood panting around the corpse of the beast as we treated our injuries. Everyone was relieved to see I'd saved Leaflet from a grisly fate, and everyone else had mainly scrapes and bruises from slipping and falling, but I was a different story.
"Drake. Are you okay? You got eaten by that thing."
I looked at Meril and... finally realized that my blurry vision wasn't tears given my eyes had stopped watering a while ago.
"Well my skin still feels burned and tender, but its acid damaged my eyes. I can't see very clearly right now."
A very slimy Gemlight walked over and rested her head on my knee. I idly stroked her mane as Leaflet took a look at my bleary eyes.
"You'd better be glad you rinsed them when you did. Any longer and it would have been permanent. You'll recover with time."
I nodded my thanks before slumping against the wall, tired beyond belief. As everyone started moving the treasure back to our camp, I picked up an amulet with a large, glowing gem in the middle and began fiddling with it while I rested my tired everything. It took them many trips, but eventually there was only one bag of treasure left to carry and we were ready to leave this place behind forever. I felt a hand clasp my shoulder and heard Grip say,
"Ready to go? Or you need a bit longer."
I opened my eyes and looked at his blurred face.
"Yeah, let's go."
I'd just stood up when we all heard a shout from the door to the treasure room.
"Not so fast!"
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Muhaha I am the first comment for this update. Fear me!
Jk good work on this story so far though.
This is good. Cant wait t see how the girls react t this.
my butt is clenching so hard, can wait for them to beat the mane 6 flanks
Daring Do?
I am sucker for these kind of adventurer stories.
Good luck for future updates
Damn it. A cliffhanger...
Pls just fall off the cliff mr cliffhanger. I want to read the next chapter.
8332991
Thanks!
8333238
It's going to be good.
8333441
Carefull with the clenching. You don't want to get a butt cramp.
8333512
I appreciate that!
8333576
Sorry. I didn't want to make a cliffhanger, but I was tired. I won't make you wait long!
I need MOOOOOOOOOOOOOREEEEEEE