A spectator sport
Clouds of glittering dust float around them as they get to their bearings and adjust to the darkness.
“Absolutely fascinating!” Gale declares running ahead and looking around at everything. “I’ve never been to the Underdark- it’s even more amazing than I’d read about-”
“It’s certainly easy on the eyes,” Itachi remarks, joining him and glancing around as best as his poor vision will allow.
“Best watch your step- the Underdark is a little testy.”
“How so?”
“To put it nicely,” Astarion says, “everything down here will try to kill you. So watch your back.”
“...Noted.”
Halsin looks up at the glittering lights of bioluminescent something far above them and smiles.
“Just as beautiful as I remember,” he says. “Though it’s been a long time.”
It’s a little chilly down here- understandably so, without any sunlight. They gather a bit closer together out of instinct, and they start walking.
There’s a small rumbling beneath their feet they ignore at first, following Halsin, who seems to know where he’s heading.
“If I recall right,” he says, still smiling that obnoxiously friendly smile, “there should be a Selunite outpost somewhere nearby. We should be wary though- this is minotaur territory.”
“...Do I want to know what a minotaur is?”
“Fearsome creatures. You will know one when you see one.”
That doesn’t do much to tell Orochimaru what a minotaur actually is, but he doesn’t feel like nagging Halsin to get any further details.
At first, none of them register the shaking under their feet.
But it doesn't stay a quiet grumbling for long.
The rumbling in the ground grows to a roar, the tremors sending them all toppling to the ground in a heap of tangled limbs and uttered curses.
“What the hells was that ?!” Astarion shouts, struggling to get to his feet as the shaking subsides.
“A bulette, from the looks of things,” Halsin answers, tracking the path of raised earth left in its wake.
“...What is a bulette, exactly?” Orochimaru dares to ask.
“Something very big and very dangerous that you don’t want to encounter. They come up from underground, so stay on guard.”
Astarion groans in aggravation.
“Worms swimming about in our heads. Bulettes beneath our feet. Cultists at our backs. What else can go wrong?”
“I guess it could be raining,” Itachi offers.
“...Would it rain down here?” Orochimaru ponders aloud.
“A large enough cave system can develop a weather system all its own,” Halsin says. “The Underdark is far larger than any cave system above ground.”
“It’s certainly larger than any cave system we have at home.”
As his eyes adjust to the dim lighting, Orochimaru marvels at the eerily beautiful surroundings.
It’s something completely different from the almost familiar world above. An endless sea of mushrooms and lichen in every possible color.
In his wildest fantasies, he would never have been able to dream up something so stunning.
He walks along with the others in a half-daze, taking in everything trying to pick it apart in his mind.
Such a fascinating world- he wants to learn everything about it while he’s here.
(He may as well see what useful things he can bring back to their own world, after all.)
“I wonder if we’ll find any flumphs down here,” Astarion remarks. “I’ve never seen one up close, I hear they’re interesting little creatures.”
“They form rather large cloisters- if we come across one I don’t doubt we’ll know!” Gale laughs. "I'd love to speak to one of them."
Whatever a “flumph” is, Gale seems positively delighted at the prospect of meeting one. Maybe they’re worth looking for, even if it's a bit of a detour.
“Wht exactly does a flumph look like?”
“Rather like a jellyfish, to be honest. They glow a little, and they don’t speak, but they can communicate directly through the minds of others.
"You'll have to let me know if we run into some."
Itachi glances over at Gale every now and then, trying to figure out if it’s his bad eyesight playing tricks on him, or if Gale legitimately looks unwell.
Whatever the man’s condition is, he knows it’d be bad to have it act up when they’re in a place like this. But he isn’t sure how often his condition would need to be dealt with, and Gale has been awfully tight lipped about it since the first incident.
(Not that he doesn’t understand the desire for privacy, but if they’re going to be stuck together, honesty might be better if the situation is dire.)
“Is there something I can do for you?”
…Perhaps Itachi wasn’t as subtle about watching as he meant to be.
“Nothing like that. I just wanted to make sure you’re alright.”
Gale lets out a small, surprised laugh.
“I’m flattered, but I’m quite alright, thank you.”
“Are you sure? It’s been awhile since you, uh-”
“I’m glad that you’re concerned, but I don’t yet need another artifact.
“I’ll keep an eye out anyway.”
“I appreciate it.”
“What are you two lovebirds twittering about back there?” Astarion laughs, craning his neck back and grinning.
Itachi does his best impression of a scowl, though the bright red his face turns gives him away.
“No business of yours.”
“Oh you’re no fun- what’s the harm with a little curiosity?”
“I think you’ll find the idea of Itachi and fun are diametrically opposed,” Orochimaru giggles, which turns Itachi brighter red still.
“Maybe not the sort of thing you would consider fun,” he grumbles.
“What would you consider fun, then?” Astarion asks.
“Hm? I-”
Itachi trails off, realizing that he hasn’t actually considered what he finds fun in a long time.
Actually. When was the last time he had fun?
…does he even remember how to?
He can feel Astarion’s smirk at the back of his head as they explore, but tries to pretend he doesn’t.
There’s something like an open wound inside him, reminding him that he hasn’t really enjoyed being alive since…
A long time, at the very least.
That shouldn’t bother him as much as it does, but Astarion seems good at getting under his skin without having to say much.
He doesn’t like that man much, he decides.
Part of him regrets not staying with Kisame to journey overland. But this place is the first time in a long time that his eyes haven’t hurt just from being outdoors, so perhaps it’s merely a tradeoff.
Halsin throws his arm out, holding the others back.
“What are you-”
Before the question as fully left his mouth, Orochimaru sees the issue.
An absolutely massive creature, with a humanoid body but a bull’s head, topped with a set of wicked, curved horns.
"That would be a Minotaur."
Fascinating.
Terrifying as well, of course. But fascinating all the same.
The creature bows its head with a snort and a bellow, before charging at a set of barred doors in front of what appears to be a grand temple.
Or, one that had once been grand.
The creature’s horns bash against the gates, but the metal holds fast, rattling but otherwise unharmed.
Then, out of seemingly nowhere at all, a blast of brilliant white energy hits the creature square in the chest, sending it flying backward and skidding in the dirt, until it comes to a stop, motionless and silent.
As they approach, it’s clear the unfortunate minotaur is very, very dead- struck down by whatever that thing was.
Orochimaru follows the path that the beam of light took, finding it originated from a statue of a beautiful woman standing in the middle of the main room just beyond the gate, standing placidly and watching them impassively.
“If we want to get in we’ll need to take care of this.”
“Already on it,” Astarion says, aiming his bow at the eye atop the statue. “This place looks old enough that I bet it’s pretty fragile.”
As he thought, his arrow finds its mark, sending the jeweled eye careening to the stone floor, where it shatters into a million pieces.
“Too bad that minotaur couldn’t figure out something similar…”
“Minotaurs aren’t exactly known for their grace, I suppose,” Astarion remarks, stepping over the corpse to start picking the lock open. “His loss is our gain, anyway.”
“It feels like nobody’s been here for ages,” Itachi says to nobody in particular.
He isn’t wrong- the inches-thick layer of dust draped over every flat surface testifies to a long period of neglect. Even their dust-muffled footsteps echo back at them a hundredfold in thelonely, long-abandoned space.
“Looks like whoever was here struck out for greener pastures.”
Halsin frowns, possibly disappointed.
“Maybe there’s something useful in here, anyway?” Gale offers. “It still may be worth a look around, even if there’s nobody here?”
Astarion doesn’t need any prompting to rifle through someone else’s belongings, already checking for traps before looking through every chest and dusty barrel he can find.
“It’s been too long since I’ve been to the Underdark, it seems,” Halsin laments. “This place used to be bustling with life- I fear something terrible has happened.”
“Terrible things are a dime a dozen down here. I wouldn’t be surprised.”
While the others continue rummaging through the place, Gale's eyes wander to a broken stained glass window, where they spy footprints in the dust.
"Someone may have gone this way."
"Ah, good eye my friend!"
The footprints lead out the window, seeming to lead to a small platform extending down into the darkness.
They climb down the unruly vines to examine what appear to be fascinatingly realistic stone statues, faces frozen in an expression of abject terror.
A morbid artisan perhaps. Or perhaps something far more sinister.
Gale approaches one of the statues, squinting and examining it carefully.
“Fascinating…”
“Fascinating how?”
“I would almost think these were alive-”
No sooner have the words left his mouth than a sudden breeze blows past them, bringing in a chill.
“What’s going on?”
Through the darkness, a creature approaches them.
Not on foot- this beast, whatever it is, does not seem to have any feet.
Rather, the creature that floats toward them is vaguely spherical, with four stalks sprouting off it, with a single eye at the end of each. At the center of its main body is another, much larger eye that bores through them, staring straight through to their souls.
It opens a gaping maw that reveals several rows of needle-like teeth, then lets out a roar that pierces through their bones.
“...Oh dear.” Astarion mutters.
Orochimaru looks up at the creature, realizing that they may officially have stepped in it.
The creature turns one of its eye stalks toward one of the statues, and blasts it with a beam of energy.
Where the statue had once been, a male drow now stands, with a blank stare, seemingly not seeing anything as he draws his weapon.
All he can mutter in response is “...fuck.”
The creature whips around, lunging at him with that enormous mouth wide open, intent on trying to devour him whole.
Before it can attempt that, however, it lets out something approximating a squeal as thorny vines burst from the ground and wrap themselves around its bulbous body, pinning it to the ground.
Itachi stands over the strange beast, looking puzzled.
“Where did you learn something like that?” Orochimaru asks him.
“...not sure?” Itachi replies, sounding just as surprised as he is.
Neither of them get to ponder this for too long, however. The reanimated drow throws himself at Gale, nicking him across the cheek with his blade.
“Woah, hey! Hold on now-”
The creature thrashes, screeching and struggling against its bonds that surely won’t hold for long.
“Hells-”
Electricity crackles around Gale’s hands, and he strikes out at the drow with open palms.
All of his muscles go rigid and he makes a sharp, strangled sound of pain as he collapses.
“What-”
The drow looks around with a panicked expression, struggling to get back to his feet as the creature continues to try to break free.
“There we go. Are you back with us?” Gale asks.
The drow glares, looking more annoyed than upset at his predicament.
“I offer to parlay and he brings a bloody Spectator!” he grumbles.
A spectator. So that’s what it’s called.
Itachi doesn’t get to let that knowledge sink in however, as he gets knocked over when the spectator finally breaks free, tentacles thrashing around wildly, teeth gnashing and body shuddering.
“Fuck-”
A beam of red energy bursts from one of the spectator’s eyes, hitting him before he has the chance to react.
It does not hurt; rather, it imbues him with a feeling of sudden, overwhelming terror that he’s never felt before.
“Hey, watch out!”
Itachi very much wants to obey Gale’s shouting, but he cannot will his body to move.
He is scared.
More than scared. Terrified.
In his entire life, he’s never felt fear like this before. It’s like a living thing thrashing about inside him, threatening to burst from his chest, chasing away any rational thought.
All he can make himself do is shut his eyes and hope that, whatever is causing this unbearable terror, the spectator gets it over with quickly.