Fantasy Cursed Island

[Darkling0096]

Joanne shrugged, "I imagine there is little Asta would not do for Jerry."

Jerry smiled and went to pick up Asta's saddle harness to strap Asta back in. "Should we bring Poli?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Niudisa nodded. "Sounds about right."

Asta nodded. "You can if you would like."

 

[Darkling0096]

Jerry thought about that, "No, Poli's earned a break." She shook her head and grew Asta to full size. Asta's saddle was primarily built for sitting on your knees or laying between his wings, anyway, so something to protect her inner thighs wasn't as necessary as it would have been with, say Amdis. She climbed into the saddle so Asta could take off. "We should probably follow the hydra's body, find out where it goes," she offered.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta nodded and checked to make sure Jerry was settled before taking flight. He circled above the camp before beginning to follow the hydra necks.

 

[Darkling0096]

When Asta got ready to take flight, Jerry reached into her kit and pulled out something like goggles, the thing she'd commisioned from Thoradin. Something to protect her eyes while Asta was airborne, although the lenses were dark green. Like Jerry's ring, there was magic involved, allowing her to see in the normally-dark caves, as long as there was some form of light at all, while still performing the functions of goggles to protect her looking-holes from windshear.

As earlier predicted by the size of the thing, the necks extended for miles. The further they got from the camp, and Asta's genocide of the local Saurian population, the more it looked like stuff lived in this swamp and was taking advantage of this new food source. The hydra was large enough that its decay was incredibly slow, and with its regenerative abilities the decay was slowed farther than Adran had thought earlier, so not much was getting through the scales. The saurians, having used tools, seemed to have been the only thing that could have, and since Asta had annihilated most of them, they weren't really around, while the tarrasques seemed to be hiding in the mud around the necks to jump up and rip apart the unfortunate feeders come to eat. Even without their master, the function of murdering corrupted creatures still dominated their wills.

The winding necks eventually led to a curve where they joined together with the body, which circle for miles more. This underground cavern was truly massive. "Big snake," Jerry commented.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta gave a nod at Jerry’s comment. “At least it was only the heads we had to fight.”

 

[Darkling0096]

It was fortunate that the body hadn't gotten involved. Eventually, they found a part of the coil that went away from what had been circling the party. "I wonder where this goes," Jerry tried to trace where the coils went, but they went farther away than either could see.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta flew in place as he looked at the massive body. “Should we follow it?”

 

[Darkling0096]

"Hmm," Jerry looked around at the ground below. "Something this big had to be able to hide somewhere, it might be another way out of the ruins." Could be a cave system, or a way to breach into the outside ocean, possibly. "Let's see where it goes," she nodded.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta gave a nod as well before flying along to follow the snake, staying just low enough that they could keep it in sight. Better to stay out of reach of most of the creatures here.

 

[Darkling0096]

As they flew, Jerry kept her bow drawn so she could discourage things coming at the two with the magick bow's arrows. Eventually, the found the torn up ground around where the hydra had emerged from the earth to feed. An enormous mound sat in the midst of the trail of coils from when the beast violently exited its hole to feed. The hole itself was massive enough to accomodate all seven heads comfortable separate as they passed through, the burrow still intact at a certain point. "Well, we found out where it came from." Jerry noted.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta nodded. “Do you think it could have had a nest down there? Or perhaps we might find the reason for its size.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"Had to have," Jerry agreed, "Burrowing snakes burrow for a reason." Down the tunnel, somehow this thing was able to tunnel through the bedrock. The sides of the cave were covered in some kind of slime, and it smelled of what was probably a mix of urine and feces from the hydra. Nothing seemed to have come in here yet, the smell of the hydra was strong in Asta's nostrils. Definitely where this thing slept.

After what seemed like miles of spiralling and winding tunnels like the intestines of some mythically massive beast, they came into a massive chamber easily large enough that the hydra could coil up inside and remain comfortable for probably centuries of continued growth. The entire chamber was warm, oddly warm for how far underground they were. They might be near a vein of magma. Best to be careful, but that did explain how such a large reptile was able to function as an active predator.

In the middle of the cavern, amongst what seemed like indents in the stone from years of slithering, was what looked like some kind of nest. it was definitely reminiscent of the dragon turtle, but made of bones, mud, wood and stone instead of gold, silver, jewels and mucus. No eggs were immediately visible, but if this was what it looked like they were probably there.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta stayed alert as they headed through the tunnel, just to be cautious. It seemed unlikely anything would have ventured down before them, but you never know. He glanced around upon entering the cavern, making use of the glowing marks on his wings to give him enough light to see. "Definitely a nest..."

 

[Darkling0096]

Jerry waited until Asta was within gliding distance of the nest before making use of her own wings to get down. Upon landing, the surface of the mound sank and made a sound like paper as she slipped on a sheet of shed snakeskin. Grabbing a spine to stop from sliding down into the muck, Jerry did manage to get up on top of the nest. "Massive."She picked up some kind of rock and found it slimy on the inside of the curve. "Ew," she tossed it over her shoulder, and eggshell. By the size, it was smaller than the dragon turtle egg. If any of them had survived, they'd probably have been eaten already by whatever was up near the surface.

There seemed to be at least ten to fifteen eggs-worth of eggshells. Many seemed to have hatched, or were half buried. Three remained, whether they were duds or just hadn't hatched yet was up for debate, though. "There's three eggs still down here!", she called up to the chimera.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta looked down from the top of the mound. “Are they edible? Or would it be worthwhile to keep them?”

 

[Darkling0096]

"I don't know," Jerry shook her head as she palmed one over. She'd never eaten a hydra egg before. "Maybe NIudisa can make something of them?"

 

[Fangs9090]

"Perhaps. If we just leave them here, there's a chance that another giant hydra will eventually claim this area. If end up having to pass back through here, that could be trouble, especially if it takes a while."

 

[Darkling0096]

That would definitely be trouble. "Yeah, we're taking these with us, then," she nodded and carefully brought the eggs back to Asta, placing them in the saddlebags. She gave the cave another quick glance before climbing back into the saddle so they could get out of here.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta nodded and held still as she loaded up the bags before glancing back at her as he turned back the way they came. "Back to the camp then?"

 

[Darkling0096]

"Yes," Jerry nodded and settled in for another flight. She'd have to earmark this location for if they came back through, it might be useful as a landmark if nothing else.

 

[Fangs9090]

Asta nodded before taking flight once again and heading back up the tunnel they had followed before.

 

[Darkling0096]

The trip back was relatively uneventful. By the time they returned, most of the group had finished their immediate projects and were bedding down for the night. Jerry took one of the hydra eggs out of Asta's saddlebags before going to find the fairy. "We found three of these in the hydra's nest," she explained as she sat the egg down on the table.

 

[Fangs9090]

Niudisa looked over at the thunk on her table. "Hm? Hydra eggs?" She walked over to take a look at the egg. "Interesting. What do you plan to do with them?"

 

[Darkling0096]

"Depends on if they're useful for anything," Jerry shrugged, "We figured you might be able to figure that part out."