Realms of Fantasy: Alone in the Dark II [Episode 111216]

“Huuumm...”

Kodachi Kunō moaned, lifted a hand to her temple and rubbed.  Then she opened her eyes... to find the caring face of a Kasumi Tendō leaning over her.

“Oh my, Kodachi, you’re finally awake.  I was so worried about you.  How are you feeling?”

Kodachi didn’t give a response immediately.  Instead, she blinked, continued to massage her forehead and stared at Kasumi.

Or more exactly, she stared at the colorful, tropical fishes that were lazily swimming around the healer.

After contemplating the charming scene for a while, Kodachi finally talked: “Well... it depends.  I have an awful headache.  And... pray tell... do you see any fish floating around your head?”

Kasumi blinked, looked around in sheer reflex, and then embarrassedly said “Hu... no.  I don’t think so.  Why?”

“That’s what I thought...” Kodachi answered, not delving any deeper into the subject.  She blinked several times to dispel the silly hallucination, but the fishes proved stubborn and seemed always to linger at the corners of her vision field.  ‘Great...’ she sighed inwardly, ‘now I’m seeing things even when awake.  I don’t want to think of what this could entail.’

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Kasumi worriedly asked again.

Kodachi pushed herself to a sitting position, groaning all the way since the sensation of pounding in her skull was still vivid.  “I’ll reserve my answer.  I don’t feel very fresh, but I guess I’ll live.  Thanks to your care, probably.”

“Yes, I’ve done everything I could...” Kasumi simply confirmed, without any hint of bragging.  “But I was still very anxious.  My powers can heal the body, but I can’t do anything against mental damage.”

“Hopefully there aren’t any...” Kodachi assured... while discreetly glaring at the ludicrous marine life that just refused to disappear from her sight.  “Casting a spell without enough preparation to fuel its power isn’t something encouraged by any wizardly teacher... but they often made it sound a lot worst than it really is.  You can survive it... I have until now.”

“You mean you’ve already done that sort of thing?” an alarmed Kasumi exclaimed.

“Not often... only a few desperate times... but yes.  Although always with low-level spells.  It’s the first time I try it with an incantation of medium power.  I’m not going to do it again anytime soon, believe me.  That really wasn’t pleasant by any mean.”

“That would be wiser.  That teleportation really took a lot out of you...”

“Yes, indeed, but...”  Kodachi blinked in surprise, and gave a good look to her surroundings for the first time.  “Where are we?”

Around them, the trunks of giant mushrooms obscured the view on every side... the two women were in a rather thick grove of fungi.  Above, the caps were so close to each other than no patch of the “sky” — the ceiling of the cavern — was visible.

“I don’t know for sure...” Kasumi tentatively began, “somewhere in that mushroom forest the guides advised us to avoid... I dragged you here while you recovered, because I thought this place would be hidden from sight.”

Kodachi nodded at that... the choice of the priestess didn’t look too bad.  The intertwined stalks of the giant mushrooms would indeed make them hard to spot.  The only light was a magical radiance created by Kasumi, who’d chosen to keep it as weak as possible so it wouldn’t be seen from the outside.

“The problem is that it isn’t the place I was aiming at...” Kodachi explained.  “I wanted to teleport us to the embankment of that underground river, where we’ve camped last time.  That looked the safer place to me.”

Kasumi tilted her head in thought.  “Well, maybe it’s just because your spell caused a wild surge....”

“But we did teleport, right?  With a wild surge, the effects of the spell would have become entirely warped and chaotic... it doesn’t look like what happened here.  We changed place, just not to where I expected.”

Thinking about it a little longer, Kodachi finally mentioned “Well... I do remember having heard that teleportation could get rather unpredictable in the Underdark.  I never had any confirmation of it until now.”  She sighed.  “Okay, I guess this mean no more attempt at teleportation in this dark realm... even if I had enough energy, that would be plain too dangerous.”

This brought Kasumi to another topic: “You can’t cast any spell right now?”

“I fear not.  Maybe one or two very weak spells, and even so it would be tiring.  It will take me lots of sleep and meditation to retain my full magical strength.  And unfortunately, I doubt we can find a spot safe enough to rest a long time in this forsaken place.  Mmmh... how long was I unconscious, by the way?”

“Oh, a few hours, I guess...” Kasumi estimated.  It was easy to lost track of time in those caverns the sun never reached.

“Hours!  Great Mystra, we were quite lucky that no Drow or monster lurking in these parts had found us.  Let’s not count on this to last, we shall be moving.”

“I agree.  We must try to find my sisters and the rest of the party as soon as possible.  I cast a few divinations to learn of their fate... I think they are all still alive, but they’re probably in trouble if my augury can be trusted.”

“It would hardly surprise me, given how bad the situation was when we parted.  Anyway, whether it is us who can help them, or them who will help us, our efforts should be first and furthermost directed at reuniting our group.  I especially can’t wait to have a little chat with my dear brother.”

Sighing inwardly, Kodachi looked at the subterranean fungi that surrounded them.  In other circumstances, she would have been delighted to study them at great length.  Exotic plants and botanic was one of her passions; and if she knew a lot about the various flora of the surface, the fascinating growths of the deep earth were largely unknown to her.  To waste such a golden opportunity was slightly upsetting the noblewoman.

However, the two Human women had other, more pressing concerns for now.  They were alone, in an unexplored part of the Underdark likely controlled by Drow, and without the support of the fighters of their party.  That wouldn’t be a good thing even if Kodachi were in full possession of her casting abilities.

What made it worst was that Kasumi, as a devout follower of Lliira (Our Lady of Joy), was from a basically non-violent faith.  She and her fellow priests were forbidden to use any weapon that could draw blood.  Only restraining devices like lasso or net, and non-lethal bare-handed techniques, were allowed.  Breaking this vow would quickly result in a loss of all clerical powers.

This meant that the two of them were pretty vulnerable.  The wizardess, indeed, would probably fare better in a physical fight than the priestess.  Not that Kodachi was blaming Kasumi in any way.  Fighting simply wasn’t her role.  The eldest Tendō sister was the healer of the party.  She provided with defensive or removal spells against harmful magic, and occasionally gave advices through divination.

Kodachi’s magic, as a conjurer, was much more oriented toward combat.  Her favorite tactic was to summon dangerous animals or monsters to attack their enemies, or distract them to the advantage of the combatants.  Right now, though, her mystical energy was largely drained.  Which meant she’d have to resort to alternate means for defending their duo.

Kodachi began rummaging inside the satchel she carried at her side, where she kept her material components and some magical trinkets.  “We cannot take the risk of walking around without any protection, though.” she explained.  “So, I’ll secure us a bodyguard.”

“I thought you said you couldn’t cast spells for the moment...?” Kasumi objected worriedly.  She didn’t want to see the Kunō mage taxing herself beyond her limits.

“That’s why I’m not going to.”  Kodachi brandished a small vial that seemed to contain some swirling, scintillating smoke.  “This magical bottle contain a creature that I’ve bound to my service a while ago.  I keep him in store for emergency case, because he... tends to attract too much attention otherwise.  But I can’t see a better occasion than now to free him.”

Kodachi opened the vial, and violet smoke began to pour out of the magical container, to form a thick cloud that slowly coalesced a few feet away from its conjurer.  To finally reveal...