Chapter 7: The Drain

"Careful. The rats down here sometimes grow to mastiff-size," said Merip as they walked, though the chuckle that followed from within his helmet made Rhen doubts his words. A little.

She weighed the longsword a little in her hand, and then winced as a snap of pain shot up her wounded arm.

In the midst of battling and running for their lives, she had almost forgotten about that.

"Do you happen to have a healer among your... associates?" she asked.

"Sure do," replied the halfling.

"What happened to that arm of yours anyway?"

Victor's voice sounded from behind her, as he answered for his sister: "She picked a fight with a large, wolf-like creature. Nothing I have ever seen before."

Merip glanced over his shoulder then, at Rhen.

"You mean to tell me you fought a werewolf? That could be trouble... miss Rhen, I need you to tell me if that wound is from a bite or the howler's claws."

Rhen glanced at the wounded arm.

"Claws," she said,

"It didn't get a chance to bite me, though not for lack of trying. Victor killed it."

"That is lucky." said Merip.

"If it had bitten you, we'd be in a bit of a pickle. Those things don't fuck in order to reproduce - they bite, which spreads their curse. Luckily, only their fangs can spread it."

"Wait, it could have turned me into... that? A werewolf?" she asked, frowning at the thought.

"Yep. Fur, tail, and all! Plus a sizable dose of uncontrollable rage. So yeah, if it had bitten you, we'd be risking you waking up in the middle of the night, transformed, and in a rage. It'd be a bloodbath."

"It scratched me. I swear." she said and placed her good hand over her heart, after sliding the longsword underneath her belt. It hung loosely on her hip, but it was better than nothing, for now.

"I can confirm that." said Victor. "Only a scratch - though deep enough to damage her ability to move her fingers, it seems."

"Heh, no worries. I believe you. And our healer might be able to fix that, so don't worry too much." replied the halfling.

After a few more turns and tunnel-walks, they arrived at a lowered portcullis, which closed off the end of the pipe.

Behind the portcullis was a heavy metal door, closed.

"Here we are." said Merip and walked over to the portcullis.

He drew in a deep breath, and proceeded to bellow: "Oi! Grubb! Get the door and gate open, will ya!?"

Rhen glanced to the halfling at this, slightly startled at the sudden yelling.

He seemed quiet and calm, even when speaking, so this felt... almost out of character.

The sound of heavy footsteps drew closer from behind the metal door, and it was opened just a little bit.

A warm light emanated from the other side.

"Huh? Who dere? Yous know password?" said the person on the other side, whom Rhen assumed was 'Grubb'.

His voice was deep and sounded a little on guard.

"There is no password, you dolt! It's me! Kister!"

"Oohs, Kister! Me knows yous voice now! Hard to hear behind door. Waits!" suddenly, Grubb sounded excited, happy instead of on guard.

The metal door swung open, easily as if it was made of light wood, and a phenomenally huge man clad in black chain mail stepped outside.

He was easily a whole head taller than Victor, and his build was incredible; his chest was like a boulder, his arms thicker than a male soldier's thigh, and his square jaw and bald head only made him more imposing to look at.

A pair of short, yellow tusks stuck out of the corners of his mouth, and his tiny, black eyes went over the trio outside the portcullis.

"A half-orc!" murmured Rhen.

Both she and Victor had known one back home, so even though this man absolutely dwarfed her, his appearance didn't scare her.

"Who dey? Kister's friends?" asked the enormous man.

"Yep! They are the Darkened Ones I went out to find. Let us in, Grubb. The lass is hurt, and she needs to see Mouse."

The half-orc looked to Rhen then, and seemed to notice her bandaged arm.

"Ohs! Yes, comings!"

The brutish-looking Grubb stepped over to the portcullis, grabbed it with both hands... and proceeded to lift it high enough that they could pass under it with ease.

Once they were on the other side, Grubb lowered the portcullis again.

"Mouse not home now though. Out hunting."

Merip shrugged at that,

"He'll be back sooner or later. Will you be alright until then, lass?" the helmeted head glanced to her, and she nodded.

"As long as I don't have to attempt that!" she smiled and pointed to the portcullis.

"Noo no. That Grubb's job. Little human not strong enough for that." said the half-orc, and she sent him a small grin.

The huge guy seemed friendly enough.

"Good! Now, let's get inside and get some food. I bet you're starving." said the halfling as he made his way inside.

The thought of food made Rhen's mouth water, and even though he remained silent as usual, she was certain that her brother felt the same way.

She followed Merip inside, and was immediately stunned by the sight that met her; a hall, almost like that of an old, abandoned castle, lit up by torches fastened to the walls and pillars which supported the ceiling.

Small camps had been set up in here, and groups of people walked around, sat and chatted, ate, or worked on one thing or another.

It was almost like an underground market, except that the people here weren't trading. They seemed to be living together.

By the walls of this hall were multiple doors, leading to places hidden from view.

As the trio stepped inside, followed by Grubb who closed the door behind him, people began noticing them.

A few yelled their hello's to Merip, who lifted a hand in return.

Rhen let her gaze wander for a bit, taking in the sight of both the area and the people here.

There were close to a hundred of them.

More than she had expected, for sure!

"Welcome to the Drain, where we treat freaks like friends, and drink to the unfortunate deaths of the Greycloaks!" said Merip. She could have sworn he was grinning behind his visor.

"Go find somewhere to sit down. I'll get you some food and water."

The two of them did just that, choosing a nearby pillar as their place for the time being.

Rhen sat herself down, leaning her back against the pillar, while Victor remained standing.

Reaching down with her good hand, she struggled a bit with pulling her wet boots off, but managed in the end.

It was a relief when her feet came out in the open, instead of being crammed up in cold, wet leather like that.

Maybe, just maybe, this would prevent her from getting sick.

"So... what do you think about all this?" she asked her brother.

Victor stroked his beard, his grey eyes scanning their surroundings calmly.

"I think we have to learn more about this world, and figure out a way to leave it. And in order to do that, we will likely need allies. And this place, unclean or not, might be our best bet at forming some necessary bonds."

Rhen let out a slight chuckle.

"Well, that's one way to say it. To be honest, I'm a little intrigued... I mean, I'm so worried, and it hurts me so much to think about how far we are from our family right now that... that I don't want to even think about it. But at the same time, this stupidly, and excitingly, feels like an adventure."

Victor glanced at her, scoffed, and said: "You have been spending way too much time with our father."