The Heavens Shall Fall

By the time the final customer left the Resting Reed, Joren had already begun to regret agreeing to another meeting, because it meant another night he would be closed, cutting into his revenue. At the moment, the Spirit Wardens had gathered around the same long table they had used before, although this time, Quillian and Vael sat slightly apart from the official members.

Naturally, Vael had remained after helping Joren close the teahouse, and because of it, his sleeves were still rolled up, and a folded serving cloth was still thrown over one of his shoulders. Quillian was dozing off in the seat nearest the wall, initially not even wanting to come. Probably the only one who was super happy about having the meeting at night was Arya, sitting proudly, playing with her hair, a provocative smile on her face, leaning on the table to display her goods.

However, everyone's eyes were fixed on the Spirit Wardens’ founding tablet instead of her, because a second section had appeared beneath the headquarters information shortly after sunset, hence their meeting.

[Foundational Development Mission Available.

Issuer: Reclusive Elder Orzimar.

Objective: Retrieve one adult Prismhide Burrower.

Required condition: Good or near perfect.

Completion reward: Construction of Gemstone Terrace’s primary gate and central headquarters building.

Eligible participants: Only registered Hollow Song disciples and officially recognized contracted companions.]

"Damn..." Joren muttered as he read it again. "What is a Reclusive Elder?"

“No idea.” Seloryn said with a shrug, "Never heard of it before."

"Probably someone who already retreated from taking active duty." Vael offered, "We have them too, although we don't name them, and I guess they are not even near the level of Orzimar. Haaah..."

“You sound disappointed,” Ruben said, catching onto his tone.

“I am.” Vael agreed, "I won't be able to go on this mission."

“You want to hunt something called a..." Ruben took another look. "A Prismhide Burrower? What is even that...?”

“At this point, I would fight something called an Angry Ball Buster if the disciplinary bracelet allowed it.” He answered with a joke, making Arya laugh the loudest.

“You should be grateful that you miss out on this." Quillian snorted, opening his drowsy eyes, "Orzimar’s missions are unlikely to improve your health, and that beast has one of the best defensive capabilities you could choose as a target.”

“Wonderful.” Joren shrugged, leaning back in his chair. "I was thinking about the same thing, going by its name alone."

“So, what is it?” Nokoh asked, leaning forward as their heads turned to Quillian.

“I have never hunted one.” He continued, beginning to rummage in his robe, searching for something. "But it's a massive, armored... pig."

"A glass pig?" Arya asked, "That doesn't sound that bad..."

"You remember Orzimar's quartz pillars?" Nokoh asked with a shrug, "Because those were pretty hard!"

"Okay," Arya answered, rolling her eyes, "But this pig shouldn't be as strong, should it?"

"Hah, take a look, here," Quillian exclaimed as he put a book on the table out of nowhere, titled: Beasts of the Hollow Song, Revised Seventh Edition.

“Where the hell did you get that from?” Seloryn asked with amazement, "Why do you even have it on you?"

“I run a shop used by inner disciples, girlie, so I have copies on me of those that need constant updating.” Quillian continued, then began flipping through it until he settled somewhere in the middle, turning it towards the group.

There, drawn onto two pages, was a creature that resembled a mixture of an oversized badger and an armored warthog with tusks. It stood on six thick legs, with the front pair ending in dangerous-looking black claws made for tearing through soil and stone alike. Its body was almost four times longer than a man was tall, but it remained low to the ground, its belly nearly brushing the grass. What was more problematic was the overlapping rows of clearly armored plates covering its back and sides. The things began appearing above the base of its skull and continued down to the thick tail. Each layer resembled a crystal rather than scales, clear around the edges and darkening toward the center.

“Ugh... That's as big as me.” Arya muttered, and Siu didn't even register her joke.

“Very big... Killing this thing won't be easy to take care of if we need it delivered in good enough condition for Orzimar."

“Yeah, I am sure that the back of this thing will shrug off our attacks,” Nokoh agreed, "And I am also sure he wants it because of those plates, so we can't really damage them. We may need to flip it like a turtle."

“I was thinking of the same thing,” Seloryn said as she pulled the book closer and began reading after flipping the page, “An adult Prismhide Burrower usually grows between ten and fourteen meters long from nose to tail. It is a six-legged earth-based beast. Primarily, it is a subterranean creature, rarely going up to the surface, and it is mostly found in mineral-rich mining shafts and abandoned tunnels.”

"Wonderful!" Ruben moaned, "So we are going underground."

“The seven plates absorb and refract light." Seloryn continued while he was complaining, "While rolled up and hiding, sleeping or waiting in ambush, it can go invisible."

“Holy shit,” Joren said, mimicking his brother, "This is getting better and better..."

“The records say experienced hunting groups sometimes attack empty air until the Burrower is already beneath them,” Seloryn continued, raising her voice to push down the brothers' whining. “Its body senses all kinds of movement through the earth, and it can track footsteps, heartbeats, and breathing through vibration alone.” As she kept reading, Seloryn’s expression became more serious. “It can burrow through ordinary earth faster than most inner disciples can run. Stone may slow it but does not stop it from digging, breaking them apart. When charging above ground, it lowers its head and uses the tusks to impale through regular defenses while its plates are there to divert incoming attacks away from its body.”

"This is worse than the stag..." Siu said with a small smile, making Arya nod, too, as she was no longer in a joking mood.

“It does not reflect techniques perfectly,” Quillian said suddenly. “The plates divide force along the shell, so what doesn't get dispersed only that remaining percentage gets reflected. Not to mention, it usually can't direct where to send it, so it is utterly random.”

"Yeah," Seloryn nodded, finding the part Quillian was speaking about, “It says here that when trapped or critically wounded, it releases every plate at once.”

“Releases?” Joren asked, raising a bow.

“They explode outward,” Quillian explained. “The entire shell becomes shrapnel. Take it as if it sheds all of its defenses in a shattering explosion so it could burrow down and try to escape. If it does that, I bet you anything, you have failed your mission from the old bastard.”

The room became quiet as they looked at each other, letting out a collective sigh.

“I think he wants to test us because we have three Paragons.” Siu said, breaking the silence, "We will have to plan how to catch one without letting it explode its shell or cutting off its limbs, because I guess that would qualify as failure just the same.”

“Your resonance could rupture its organs... No? Or do we need those?” Nokoh asked, looking at Seloryn.

“Maybe...?” She muttered, unsure, "If it is this sensitive to resonance, I could be its perfect counter, or it could completely ignore me."

“Maybe water could drown it and damage the lungs.” Joren offered, looking at Ruben, who was thinking, tilting his head, answering with one word.

“Probably.”

“My smoke affects blood and essence circulation, but I don't know how quickly I could get into its systems.” Nokoh offered, "There is a high chance I would need to touch it for it to work."

“It may contaminate whatever Orzimar wants,” Vael added, making the group start thinking again.

"Wait..." Arya gasped, "If it deals with light, doesn't this mean I'm pretty much useless against it?! We have to go at night!"

"I don't think it matters if we go after the thing in the day or night," Ruben chuckled, "Because we will go underground, aren't we?"

"Let's see..." Siu took over the book, flipping a few pages before it showed a rough map of the Inner Disciple Hunting Grounds divided into several numbered regions. “Here,” He pointed at the marks. “It says that the abandoned mines in the seventh region are where they are usually found. So yeah... we are going caving.”

"But aren't there other things to worry about?" Joren asked, leaning even more to glance at the map, “Thought so... Stone-shell beetles? That alone gives me the creeps.”

“Can it be baited? By food it likes?” Siu asked, getting an idea, and flipping back a few pages, “Ah... no...” He shrugged. “They rarely approach dead food because they prefer to find prey that still produces vibrations.”

"We can still bait it," Seloryn offered. “We can create a type of noise that it cannot ignore.”

"Something digging!” Marly exclaimed at once, while Siu translated.

“If these burrowers are territorial," Joren nodded, "That could work the best. Another tunneling beast would bring it out, for sure!”

“Can you imitate that with your flute?” Ruben asked.

"Hm..." Seloryn did not answer immediately, her fingertips continuing to tap on the table. “On paper, yes, but I don't know how it actually sounds. Maybe it would be enough to make a noise that sounds like digging, but if it is sensitive enough to distinguish heartbeats, I would need to know the pattern I am imitating to mask our presence.”

"Okay, let's say we got it where we want it," Ruben continued, looking at the others, "How do we trap it? How do we kill it without ruining the beast? None of us are much of a silent, quick killer type. Unless Siu can copy someone like that."

“The mission is to retrieve an intact corpse, so fighting is optional.” Quillian reminded them, "Anyway... You cannot overpower it without risking the shell. So do not meet it where it is strongest; instead, make it come to a ground that you have already changed.”

“Traps do sound good,” Joren agreed.

“Yeah, but you can't have piercing ones,” Vael also added. “Or those that would crush it.”

“So we need a cage,” Arya suggested, "Or something to entangle it."

“A cage large enough for that?” Ruben asked with a laugh, "How are we going to bring it along or fit it in? What if it explodes after being trapped? Tsk, this old man knows how to choose a mission, huh?"

“Hmph! It was just an idea.” She harrumphed, turning her head away, pouting.

“Water could be its weakness, so you could build a cage from it.” Vael offered, looking at Ruben, who looked both offended and interested.

“You want me to imprison an earth-based beast in water?”

“Prismhide plates are heavy." Quillian muttered, thinking about the idea, "They are not good swimmers, that is for sure, and considering where they live, I don't think they like water that much.”

"I will keep that in mind, but I don't think that filling a mine shaft with water is indeed a good idea for anyone." He shrugged, shaking his head. "By the time it suffocates, it may just decide to go for the big boom."

"I may be able to help halt him from doing that," Nokoh continued, tapping his chin while thinking, “If my smoke can enter through the water, into its body, I could slow down its process for initiating an explosion like that...”

"Are we that close that you could influence or sync up with my spells like that?" Ruben asked with a smile, but Nokoh met it head-on.

"Perhaps," He answered with a half-joke, making Joren shrug.

“This entire plan is a big fucking perhaps.”

"Not if we prepare," Siu spoke up again, his mind already planning. "We can scout the place ahead of time, find a spot, and prepare a trap. Joren could mold the ground and harden it enough to instantly prevent it from burrowing out of an ambush. Seloryn can use her skills to constantly keep it confused and pretty much blinded. The rest of us just need to assist Ruben and Nokoh to trap the creature and prevent it from self-destructing."

"That still doesn't say how we kill it," Seloryn said, watching as Siu leaned back, still thinking, watching the book on the table.

"Maybe we don't need to kill it... Nowhere did Orzimar say he wants a dead one... And... Isn't a live one sounds exactly like an intact one?"