Anyways, just when I think I was coming down from whatever got me super high, I see even more faces. Thrognar is back; I must have missed him. Next is this dark-skinned dwarf with an axe. I'm going to dub him "Vok" because I'm too messed up to come up with more. Last is this man with a staff and his hair in a tail. I'm calling him "Korlos." Two syllables. He's saying something about tea and books.
Yeah, I think tea will help with the hangover.
I say to nobody, "I remember the half-orc … the others must be new hallucinations."
Stonemaul asks me, "You … spend a lot of time in altered states?"
I say back, "Doesn't everyone?" Because I don't know how they don't get wasted every night.
Anyways, we start to fly down deeper, and it gets hotter and stinkier as we go down. There's big clump growing out of a cavern wall, a big clump of what looks like waste, trash, and bodies, all in an appetizing yellow mucus. There's a hum coming from within it.
So of course I get nearer.
And of course there are more bugs.
For some reason, everyone but Garreth and I starts babbling about the bugs, and about talking to bugs. Garreth gets nearer and kills a bug. Stonemaul calls forth some godly might, so I know he's now ready to kill, and smashes his shield into one of the wasps, killing it. I, of course, fly more carefully towards the mucus than the others. Thrognar sees something down a hallway. Polly peppers a bug with arrows, killing it.
The bugs spit snot at us. Korlos gets out of the way of one, while Garreth dodges four big boogers. The queen bug flaps her wings and lets out what I can only call a nasty fart. Vok gets out of the way, but the blast pushes Polly into a wall. Luckily, Stonemaul casts Rune of Protection on Polly, so she's alright. I hear Korlos casting a spell, after which he whooshes forward.
Stonemaul next turns a bug into puree, and his follow-through smashes open a wall. I do a flyby on another bug and stick my knife in its eye. Thrognar yells to his god, whichever one that is. Polly kills another bug with arrows, and Garreth pounds on yet another bug. Vok dices up a bug with his sword.
The bugs come nearer, other than the queen, who keeps flapping her wings. One tries to bite Garreth, but he gets out of the way. Another tries to bite me, but bites air. Korlos casts Great Haste on Stonemaul; apparently he cast that spell on himself before because otherwise I don't know why he's so fast. This is good, and lets Stonemaul dice up the queen. I get the last bug in the eye, as always.
We are tired. I find the weak spots in the walls, and Thrognar smashes them, getting the treasure, and we all fly back to town.
On the way, I ask Korlos what he meant by the tea and books stuff, and try to clear up what he cast. He says, "I was sitting in the library, near the fire, at the colleges, sipping my tea and enjoying a good book in the company of other scholars when gradually I was pulled to another place.
"I found myself in an unpleasant cavern in the presence of others I had never beheld before. There was some continuous insectoid noise not far off and presently giant insects attacked those assembled hominid bipeds.
"Seeing them as my natural allies I lent aid with my magic to one who seemed particularly capable, I similarly magically enhanced myself that I might avoid being damaged by these unfortunate insects who appeared simply to be defending their home from we sapient interlopers. The giant wasps were no match for we warm-blooded hive-invaders and were slain, treasure found and collected."
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