Evolution of a Healer

This time Cyn felt barely any pain or nausea, and after a few seconds of rapid blinking in order to acclimate to the low light, she could see her new surroundings. Instead of a dark dungeon, the party now seemed to be in a cave. Presumably a mineshaft based on the mangled tracks along the ground, but their state of disrepair hinted this place had likely been abandoned a long time ago. They currently stood near the center of a large chamber, at least 200 feet across, with multiple exit tunnels, and that was just barely illuminated in places by some kind of growth.

The growths seemed to creep along the walls, ground, and ceiling, and in many places stretching in the air between surfaces. Most of them were thin and threadlike, but in a few instances they seemed to grow between the floor and ceiling; they looked like thick ropes. They gave off enough light to allow Cyn to see within a few feet of the growth, but outside of that area it became heavily shadowed.

“Well this is significantly worse than the previous room.” The Rogue’s tone was flippant, and after doing a quick spin he added, “Doors gone too. So it looks like we are stuck here.”

“What other choice did we have? That was the only exit.” Sam and Hex devolved into a quiet argument that Cyn stopped listening to immediately. She wasn’t claustrophobic or anything, but something about this place made her extremely nervous. Perhaps it was the low light, but she felt like there was something moving just out of sight she sometimes caught in her peripheral vision. But if she turned her head to look, nothing seemed to be there.

Scott had not moved or said a word, and when she leaned around to look at his face the Guardian appeared to be squinting intently into the darkness. Before Cyn could ask him what was wrong Dana spoke up from somewhere behind her. “Don’t touch the glowing stuff. It's sticky.”

The four of them at the front of the human chain had not moved from the spot they had arrived, save for small shuffles in order to turn around. But when they all looked back to the rear of their group they found Dana had managed to silently walk a few feet away, crouch down, and prod at a glowing spot with one of her arrows. As the Archer stood back up, pulling the arrow with her, long strands of luminescence clung to the arrowhead and stretched without snapping until she gave up retrieving it and just dropped the arrow back onto the ground.

Cyn saw movement again, but this time it wasn’t out of the corner of her eye. In the darkness behind Dana, high in the air, something moved. She could hear Scott speaking, but Cyn found herself transfixed on where she had seen the movement, waiting for it to repeat.

She did not have to wait very long to see it again. A moving shadow was ever so slowly detaching itself from the ceiling. There was not enough illumination in that area for her to clearly see what it was at first, but once it was fully suspended in air the glow from the wall behind created a clear shape.

And that shape had eight legs.

“Spiders above!” Fear made Cyns voice high, easily cutting through the discussion the party had been having. All eyes snapped upward at her words, and Scott began to let out a near continuous string of curses as they all rushed to arm themselves against the now clear ambush.

The arachnids seemed to sense the jig was up, and stopped trying to be sneaky. Instead the party could now see at least a half dozen shapes quickly descending down upon them around the room. Cyn still could not make out any details in the dark, but the creatures' round bodies looked to be the size of a car tire, and each leg was about twice as long as the body.

Luckily none of the spiders were directly above them, but now that they moved freely they moved fast. The closest was the one she had seen first behind Dana, and it was on the ground in seconds after Cyn alerted to the danger. The Archer had already moved back to the group from where she had been prodding at the glowing strands of web, but she was still the closest to the skittering creature and seemed to be struggling to draw the bow in her hands.

Dana barely managed to get her weapon drawn and fired right as the spider leapt forward from ten feet away. Cyn did not get to see if the Archer's arrow connected, because she had been standing too close when the Archer finally got the bow fully drawn. Danas’ elbow connected with Cyns shoulder and, with the speed and power behind the draw not being insignificant, she had been sent spinning back and sideways onto the ground.

Thankfully Scott had taken a few steps to the side in preparation to meet a pair of the arachnids that were descending together, or Cyn might have ended up taking both of them to the ground. She landed on one of her arms, the same side Dana had hit, and that entire arm was now numb. Adrenaline allowed her to ignore it for now and scramble back to her feet within a few seconds of hitting the ground, her staff making a useful crutch.

Within those few seconds Cyn was struggling to get back up, the real fight had started for everyone else. She glanced at Sam in time to see him step forward and punt a spider hard, sending it careening back into the darkness. A second one reared up on its backmost legs to grab the Warrior around the waist at the same time from the side, but Sam did not seem to even struggle as he seized the grasping appendages, snapping them in his gauntleted fists. He had not even bothered to draw his longsword.

Scott and Hex were fighting together, facing off against a trio of the arachnids a short distance away from the rest of the party. The Guardian was exceptionally effective with his shield, seeming to be able to bring it up in time to deflect every attack. The Rogue on the other hand spent most of his time behind Scott, but when he did attack he was as fast as the creatures themselves, able to dip into the fray and back out again safely. The pair seemed to be holding their own for the moment, so Cyn did not let her gaze linger on them long before she looked around for Dana.

She found the Archer flat on her back, just a few steps away, and using her bow to just barely block the large, wiggling fangs trying to sink into her face. The Archers head was down near a strand of glowing web, and the illumination allowed Cyn to take in more details of the arachnid than before. Its exoskeleton was bumpy and matte; and combined with a dark coloration it was no wonder it had been able to blend in seamlessly along the shadowed cave ceiling.

Cyn took two steps forward to get in range, and swung her Staff of Beginnings as if it was a baseball bat. Not confident with her ability to hit near its fangs without also hurting Dana, and afraid hitting the back of the spider would only make the Archer's situation worse, she aimed for its side in an attempt to knock it away.

The attack was not as effective as Cyn had hoped it would be, the creature barely moving. But it was enough to shift its center of balance sideways and allow Dana to take the upper hand in their grapple. The Archer shoved hard with one side of her bow, flipping the spider onto its side. At the same time, she hooked one of her legs around one of the spider's lower limbs, allowing her to roll with it and force the arachnid fully onto its back with the Archer straddling.

The spider only appeared to have only a single, round body segment and with Dana straddling it she had effectively neutralized its fangs. They were not large enough to reach her, and its exoskeleton was too stiff to allow any kind of bending. It was not totally defenseless however, and as it flailed all eight legs in an attempt to right its orientation Cyn could make out tears forming across the women's clothing. The tips of the spider's legs were almost needle sharp points, and each time they made contact with skin it was leaving behind small cuts.

Dana was still lacking a weapon for close combat, and while her position was better than a few moments ago it was all she could do to keep the creature down. Unsure how else to help, Cyn attempted to cast Restoration. She was trying to use it on the Archer to counteract the wounds she was receiving, but instead she found sensation rapidly returning to her injured arm, first pain as the numbness receded then that too faded to leave the arm feeling normal again. At the same time, she felt more than saw notifications pop-up but she definitely was not in the position to read them right now.

While Cyn struggled to figure out why the skill had miscast, Sam ran past her to help Dana. The Warrior started grabbing legs and breaking them off where they attached to the main body one by one. He too was covered in small cuts, more than Dana, but was also sporting at least two pairs of larger wounds on his side, presumably from being bitten.

Please don’t be venomous. Cyn’s thought was more of a desperate prayer, since they did not have any way to deal with venom other than trying to out heal it. Seeing how bad Sam’s injuries looked gave her an idea though. He was still snapping legs, but with this arachnid mostly taken care of she reached out to touch the Warriors arm and tried to cast Restoration again.

This time the skill worked as she intended. Cyn’s touch made Sam startle slightly, but he did not complain or pull away as his injuries healed in real time. As soon as the deeper bites stopped bleeding she pulled her hand away to cut off the skill, having felt the continuous drain on her mana while using it. Concerned about the cost, for using it back to back, she opened her menu for a split second to check.

Name: Cynthia Price

Race: [Human]

Class: [Mage] Level 1

Profession: N/A

Health Points: 8/20

Mana Points: 23/100

Stamina Points: 19/30

Cyn didn’t bother to check her notifications or read more and just closed her menu. More notifications had popped up in the last few seconds, but she could look at them later. It appeared she used 17 mana to heal both herself and Sam, assuming that leveling up did not restore resources equal to the increase in cap. Seeing that the Warrior was helping Dana stand up from the now dismembered spider, Cyn turned to check on Scott and Hex.

Only to find them already walking back to rejoin the rest of the group, having finished off their own opponents. The Rogue was entirely uninjured from what she could see, and the Guardian was only sporting minor scratches up and down his arms. Relieved neither of them were in bad condition, Cyn turned back and reached for Dana to use Restore, the Archers injuries looking worse than Scott’s did.

The other woman spoke before Cyn had a chance to, her voice sounding harried, “I am so sorry. I didn’t know what that stuff was, and did not think touching it with my arrow could have an effect like that. Then I accidentally hit Cyn in the face…”

Cyn could not help but give a small, strained laugh. “You hit my shoulder. I’m not quite that short. ‘Don’t stand directly behind the Archer’ was a lesson I needed to learn apparently.”

“Pretty sure the bastards already knew we were here anyway. I’d bet you walking away from us is what made them start moving. Isolated prey.” Scotts words were not comforting, and Dana just nodded in response, looking downcast. His next question was aimed at Cyn. “How's that healing spell of yours?”

Dana hadn’t needed too much healing, and Cyn checked her menu again to see the cost before answering.

Mana Points: 16/100

“I figured out I have to be touching someone to use it on them. I was accidentally healing myself instead of Dana before Sam showed up.” She grimaced before adding on, “And the cost is inconsistent. I think it works like a channeled spell.”

Scott was nodding along to her words, looking thoughtful, and spoke again once Cyn fell silent. “It looks pretty effective though. Even with those downsides. And you, boy, something wrong with your sword?” That last part was clearly directed at Sam.

The Warrior looked confused for a few seconds, then sheepish. “I forgot about it, sir.”

Whether it was at the Warriors words, or the immense sigh the Guardian let out, the party laughter that followed served to lighten the tense atmosphere that had lingered after their harrowing first battle.

When the noise died down again Cyn spoke, “We should find a place to rest a while. We will have to take turns keeping watch, but I need to recover mana and check my notifications.”

While everyone agreed with that, being low on stamina themselves, actually finding a safe place was easier said than done. After a short discussion the party slowly made their way to one of the walls of the cavern, the only decently sized area without a tunnel, walking single file. Scott took the lead with Sam all the way in the rear, since the Warrior had proven he could take a hit better than anyone expected him to. Progress was slowed partly due to everyone trying to avoid touching the glowing webs, but also because three of the five of them had no shoes. It had been easy to ignore with the adrenaline flowing, but now Hex, Sam, and Cyn were feeling the toll of walking on the uneven ground and dirt. Cyn had also voiced concern about the possibility of nails and wood splinters when near the busted mine tracks, but so far no one had stepped on anything too damaging.

Once they made it to the wall the party had a new problem. Well not new, as they had anticipated it before deciding where to go, but this wall was covered in web. The ground as well had more web than they had originally anticipated, leaving little space for anyone to comfortably rest.

Hex was the first to voice a solution. “We can try just wiping it off with our cloaks. Not Sam’s or Cyn’s, because I doubt either of you could sit without them, but those of us with pants. I volunteer mine to start.” He was already unclasping and shrugging it off, clearly not anticipating a better idea or perhaps just eager to rest.

Cyn realized for the first time that the cloaks each of them wore had to be custom made, or perhaps had an invisible enchantment. The cloaks fell down to mid calf on everyone. If they all were close in build she would not have noticed, but that was not the case. Cyn was significantly shorter than anyone else, standing barely over 5 feet, and there was probably a whole foot of difference between her and Hex, who was the tallest. Sam was stout and broad shouldered, while Dana was willowy and even without her short heels she would be nearly as tall as the Rogue. Without intervention, there was no way the cloaks should fit the same on everyone.

She had not even realized how focused she was in that train of thought until she felt someone grab her arm and gently shake. “Cyn..?” The speaker was Dana, who had also been the one to grab her arm.

Cyn had clearly lost a bit of time just standing there. A decent sized area was now clear of web, with Scott and Sam already sitting down with their backs against the wall, also cleared of web. Everyone looked concerned, except for Hex. His facial expression was difficult to read because of the mask. He just raised an eyebrow and asked, “Checking your menu already?”

He was also the only one without his cloak on, so clearly removing the web was not as hard as they feared. Cyn shook her head. “No I…I think I’m just tired. I must have zoned out.” She felt guilty using that excuse since her contributions so far had been pretty lackluster. She wasn’t even tired, at least not physically. Mentally though, today had been a lot to handle. It was easier when she thought she was dreaming, but Cyn was no longer trying to hold onto that explanation for whatever was going on.

“Sit down and rest then. Hex and I are going to alternate keeping watch for now.” Dana tugged on her arm while speaking, and no one seemed to question Cyn’s explanation. She let herself be led into their pretend safe area, and settled to the ground to look at her notifications before maybe just taking a nap, hard ground be damned.

Before she could get started Scott spoke. “Did anyone perchance Inspect our ambushers?” A chorus of groans and muttered curses was the only answer he got.

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