PERILS

DD1: A deep crack in the cave floor poses an obstacle. A convenient bridge seems to be laid out before you, but when you step on it to cross, it begins to move underneath your hooves! Thousands of legs undulate on either side of a gigantic millipede that you have disturbed. Can you ride this bronco to the other side?

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Sairose would not be beaten so easily.

A woman of renown and the last remnants of the Verdeblood clan, she stepped through the early passages of the dungeon with ease. Traps, toxins and peril nipped at her heels ever so constantly, yet there seemed to be very little that swayed her from her path. After all, Sairose had a lot to live up to, a strong family name like Verdeblood could not be so easily smeared, not if she had anything to do with it. Sairose had a simple task for this mission – to collect enough herbs for a salve to patch up her little brother Elbourne’s latest misadventure.

It seemed easy enough. The passages and terraces of subterranean brick gave way to  natural stone and tapestries of moss and fern stuck alongside. Down here, the water ran clear as if there was a natural spring in some layers above. Sairose smiled briefly, taking a moment to enjoy the verdant tones which offered a pleasant change from the monochromatic surrounds – this place was filled with life. Unbottling a jar, she gathered enough fresh spring water to help make the salve, and began to collect brightly coloured leaves and mosses. Sairose had been given a very specific list by the healer above – but was far too proud to admit any fault or knowledge gap. No. collect enough of everything. In the centre of the cavern was an isolated boulder hit with light from the surface ushered through by cracks above. To arrive there seemed simple enough – a worn timber bridge swayed gently with invitation “Seems to good to be true…but I see no other option” Sairose thought to herself. The pillars of faint light and perfectly illuminated foliage almost seemed a trap. But Sairose was above traps.

One step, two step, clack, clack, her hooves trod along the bridge, a full sound not at all like the sound of dampened timbers. Wait, was that a carapace?  

The bridge shuddered and began to move with its mullions of legs unfurling. This was no bridge, but a beast. As it began to move and roll its body over the boulder, Sairose could do naught but run straight forward, as fast as she could lest she fall off below. Any onlooker would see something rather daring and foolhardy. But as the Centipede arched further upright, as if reaching to a passage in the ceiling, Sairose could no longer outrun gravity, and slowly came crashing down each segment of its body until she plummeted to the floor. Were it not for the giant fungal growths that the Centipede was clearly feeding on, Sairose would have surely perished.

Groaning and in pain and now seemingly a level lower than before, Sairose’s vision blurred as she watched the millipede disappear into the ceiling and then to black.