Chapter Text
Percy looked over a worn piece of paper in his hands under the pale blue glow of the cave. On it was a sketch of himself and another figure. Percy was wearing his casual clothing, a flannel and some slacks. His broad shoulders and tall physique stood next to the skinny, slightly shorter elf in the picture. The smaller elf, whose ears matched Percy’s, was wearing a simple house-robe with swirling patterns on the trim. They were looking at each other, smiling brightly. Percy remembered how the artist couldn’t stop them from passing jokes and breaking the pose they were in because Arrel kept using Sending.
Thinking back, he could remember his fiancée clearly. He had golden-blonde hair, the colour of a boiled silkworm cocoon. His face was sharp, and very elven- even if his skin felt like the rough side of leather most days and his lips were always cracking. Arrel’s slender build meant he fit snugly in Percy’s arms. His ears were similar to Percy’s, being that they stretched to the heavens with sharp points that could probably take out someone’s eye if they weren't so soft. His voice had an elven accent that Percy lacked, even when speaking in Common. But the part Percy remembered most was his eyes. Arrel’s eyes were the most beautiful shade of emerald green one could imagine- deep and rich and saturated.
Percy looked around and fear gripped his heart. This passageway, the one he was in now- was the last time he ever saw Arrel alive. One moment they were sleeping and the next moment- he was getting a Sending claiming that there was no hope for him- and to move on with his life. As if he could ever truly do that. Tears began to stream down his face, he could hardly think- until he heard a familiar voice calling to him from the darkness.
“Mopsy, dear”, the familiar voice said, “Are you crying about that picture again?” Percy looked over to see Adam, a human who wore a hood over his eyes. He continued, “Mmph, you know he’s gone… right.” Percy slouched over a bit, looking towards Adam with shame in his eyes. “I know… but we were together for over a century” a tear ran down his rosy cheeks. “You don't just forget someone like Arrel. He wasn’t just my lover in this life either. My reverie is filled with our past lives- it’s complicated”. “An’ besides”, Lonnie chimed in with annoyance, “It's only be’n three months s’nce he kicked the buck’t. Giv’ him some time to grieve”.
Adam shrugged. “I suppose.” He placed his hand on Percy’s pauldron. “Don’t worry my little mopsy-poo, I know you’ll get over him quite soon”. Percy looked at Adam and began crying more. Adam looked back at Percy. “I have a suggestion- stop crying”. Percy felt a familiar tickle behind his ear as his eyes began to stop watering. Adam smiled, “There we go. See, aren't you feeling better already?”. Percy felt sad still, but nodded anyways. “Good”, Adam smiled shyly. Lonnie looked over at Adam with suspicion in her eyes. “An’hows, Get your butts in gear. We’re in th’ und’rdark. As Ari’s exampl’ shows, It’s danger’us down here.”
A few minutes later, Lonnie, Adam, and Percy began to enter the cavern they had camped near. The smell of mushroom spores hit their noses as they walked inside. Every single plant in the room glowed a pale teal color from light spots on their stems. As they walked in, a glowing blanket of spores began to rub off on their boots and pants, revealing a teal grass beneath. Some small creature skittered out of sight as the heavy sound of plate metal and metal boots approached. Percy noticed that its head seemed to glow pink, but he made no mention of it to his party.
“Perc’val, I don’t th’nk this was her’ last t’me” Lonnie remarked as she pointed to the map. On it was a cavern that was roughly the same size and shape as the one they were in, but it was empty. “We could’ve forgotten to mark it” The paladin said, looking over at it. “I’ll j’st make a note of it”, the dragonborn responded. Lonnie took out a piece of graphite and wrote “Glowing Plants”, on the map over the cavern.
As they talked about the map, Adam noticed a minotaur’s skull, pristine and with a small ratlike creature looking out of it. It tilted its head in curiosity as it stared at Adam and the party. As Adam approached it, it skittered once again out of sight. As it left, he heard a strange noise. He looked towards its source, and jumped.
Coming from 25 feet away, and creeping up on the party were three teal vines, coming quickly. A passing check of his knowledge found that he had never seen anything like this before. He tried to warn the party, but it was too late. A vine had already grabbed onto Lonnie and was digging into her leg with thorns. Percy stumbled back just in time, the vine missing him. Adam effortlessly dodged it, cutting a section off with his daggers in the process. Percy then pulled out his longsword and swung, making a large gash on the vine.
Lonnie grabbed the vine around her leg with her leather gloves and cast Inflict Wounds, making it wither and fall away. Another vine came and wrapped around her other arm. It grew over the arm, trapping it in plant matter. The damaged vine Percy was working on then shifted its focus towards Adam. It took the dagger out of his hand. Adam reached his hand out and began to throw his weight around trying to get it back, but the vine threw the dagger off into the darkness. As the rest of the party was attempting to get their bearings, Percy looked up to see a cage grow around him and the party nearly instantly.
Lonnie dug deep within herself and unleashed a bout of fire from her gullet. The cage of vines burned away like paper at her flame. “Come on!” She shouted, “b’fore it grows b’ack!” The party jerked their heads to see her run quickly towards the other end of the cavern. Adam grabbed onto Percy and wrenched him away from the combat and began to run after her. As they ran, the vines began to pursue them. “Percy, quick suggestion for you!” Adam yelled, “Hold back the vines!”.
Percy attacked the vines as Adam dragged him across the floor and out of their reach. The two of them stopped and took deep breaths. “You did good out there Adam” Percy was gasping for air. “Heh, nice to hear I have not lost my charm~” Adam said between breaths. The two looked at each other. Adam smiled “When we get out of here, should we have some fun?”. Percy looked aside, blushing. “Is that a yes Mopsy-poo?” Percy nodded his head. “Good”
Percy looked down the tunnel and sighed. “Let’s get a move on, Lonnie could be in danger out there”. Adam struck up a tinderbox, creating a flame on the end of a torch. “Yes, I suppose the Underdark is no place to wander off alone” He said as he took the lead down the caverns. The two of them neared the end of the tunnel when, at the edge of a cavern, they found Adam’s dagger lodged in a dead rat. It looked like it had been thrown there from an angle impossible for the plant to have done. Percy looked around cautiously, and found a ledge at the top of the cavern big enough to stand on, with an entryway at the back.
Thankfully, it looked like the ledge was empty. He then motioned for the rogue to grab the dagger. Adam reached down and put his hand on the leather hilt of the dagger. Something on it felt slimy and cold. He looked down to see his dagger’s hilt was covered in a silvery mucous. As he pulled his hand away, it stretched off with it. Percy looked over and his heart dropped. He knew what it was. And he knew what it meant.
Percy grabbed Adam’s hand and looked him in the eye. “They’ve found us, we’ve got to go. Now”. Adam tilted his head, “Who?”. Percy whispered the name with conviction and fear “Illithid.” Adam laughed, “Illithid?! You mean like the Brotherhood?! Those sorry saps of merchants that can’t even take over an economy properly? Come on Liadon. They’re all bark and no bite… right?”
Percy froze, did Adam not know what they were talking about? There were a million stories about them that said the contrary. Stories about empires that spanned universes, about ships that could hop planes. The existence of githyanki and githzerai? Did he not realise what the Brotherhood was?! What they did behind closed doors? The countless tales of cruelty faded from Percy’s mind as the thought of Arrel being dragged off into the darkness took him over for a moment before he snapped back to reality. “I’ll explain what they are later, but for now we need to find Lonnie and get out.”, He said.
Adam sheathed the dagger and looked towards the cavern. There were stalagmites littering the cave floor. Most, if not all of them were over 6’ tall, and much wider than either of them. You couldn’t even see the exit through the forest of stone. Percy picked Adam up and put him on his shoulders, at his boyfriend’s suggestion, giving Adam a vantage point above the cavern. As they traversed the stone, Adam called out directions. They slowly made their way across the floor, weaving through the stalagmites. But as they walked through, they had the distinct feeling of being watched.
As they neared the other side, Percy put the rogue down. “See, this wasn’t too ba-”A mechanical click triggered a mechanism. Adam dropped to the ground and screamed in pain. Percy looked over to see what was the matter. A barbed chain had come out of two stalagmites stationed parallel to the tunnel. It wrapped around his legs multiple times and dug into his flesh. Percy quickly put the grip of his sword into his mouth and held a finger up to his mouth. “Shhhh” he whispered.
Percy began to slowly unwrap the chains from the human’s legs. As the first set of barbs came out, he saw that the barbs had a serration on them that made it more painful to remove it from his flesh. Adam was in tears as he gave muffled screams. Percy tried to slowly remove the next set, wobbling them slightly to try and ease the pain, but it seemed to hurt Adam even more. This went on for a minute, until Adam grabbed Percy’s hand and gave a muffled “Suggestion- Just Pull It!”. Percy then uncharacteristically yanked the chains off, making his legs bleed. He looked in horror at the blood that came out, and quickly used lay on hands to mend the damage. Adam took the sword out of his mouth and regained his composure. He said, ¨Mopsy, we should be getting a move on¨
As Percy walked down the tunnel, he questioned why he did that, he didn't want to hurt Adam, so why did he do that? He realised he had been doing a lot of things he would´ve never done before meeting Adam. Was Adam corrupting him? He opened his mouth to ask him a question when he heard a thump behind them.
They
had found them.