Island of the Sunless Sea II
Part 2: Blind Hell
Petal hurriedly rolled into a kneeling position, and then rose to her feet. Surrounded by fog, she was unable to see anything farther away than she could reach to. She had no idea from where she had come from, glanced forwards to backwards, side to side, until she was satisfied she had no idea which way was back home. She gripped her claw, nervous of her unknown surroundings, and took a deep breath. She had to calm down. After a moment, an idea occurred to her, and she opened her Horadric cube, removing a blue tome. She quickly opened it, and found…
Nothing. Some indecipherable scrawls in the back of the book, covered in a fine layer of dust, taunted her and her inability to return home. Frustrated, she shut it and tossed it back into the warped dimensions of the Cube, and set the cube back at her side. Suddenly, she noticed a steadily growing crescendo of whispers around her. She slowly rose her arms in defense, and yelped as a blade glanced across her shoulder. Luckily, her padded armor had deflected it away from her, and she counterattacked with the flames of her right blade. It was time to battle.
She rapidly followed up with a few slashes at the creature spreading the same emerald-shaded orbs around her in spiral after spiral of fatal poison. However, the enemies kept coming in invisible wave after wave to match the deadly poison. Some avoided the poison entirely, and she slowly ducked and rolled forwards, simply trying to avoid all of her attackers. The scene was blind entropy, with magical winged skeletons biting at her from all sides, and zealous humanoids slashing at her and attacking with magical weaponry. She quickly switched to her other blade, releasing deadly flames in front of her with each swipe, flames speedily eating through the ones who had laughed at the orbs of venom. While this this onslaught of fires quickly annihilated most of the remaining dæmons, Petal herself was running out of stamina, and the constant injuries from the enemies were wearing her down rapidly. A lull followed the waves of flame, and she took advantage of the opportunity to check her injuries. She was coated in minor cuts and bruises, but nothing particularly worried her other than the festering bite covering her shin. She wasn’t going to be running away from anything on that leg until she found some form of healing. The adrenaline began to wane, and she found herself far more tired than she was moments ago.
She was almost ready to collapse when a horrible, distorted cackling rang out around her. The memory of her recent encounter with the apparition faced her in reality, and she gasped loudly as the first wave of magic struck her. Flames, ice, and lightning stormed from all sides in hellish chaos, and her weakened state left her keeping low to the ground, barely able to dodge the assault. She calmly inhaled, held, and then released a breath as magical flame twisted into an ancient symbol around the mage’s pedestal. The flames struck the spirit and returned rapidly, replenishing her life at the cost of his magic. Rejuvenated, she leapt towards the evil sorcerer and slashed with the flames and poison at her control until, finally, nothing remained of him except a cackle which still echoed around her and charred robes.
Petal knew he wasn’t dead, and that he would return and attempt to slay the next unwary wanderer who laid foot on this unholy island. However, it wasn’t her problem. She stole a small bag from his corpse, and glanced at it shortly, before tossing it into the cramped spaces of the Cube. She quickly rose, leaving the pile of ash behind as she strode on to explore this place further, and possibly find a way to return home.
