You have teleported into a level 114 stygian serpent’s shadow. A hostile entity has failed to detect you! You remain hidden.

The sleeping snake did not so much as stir as I emerged into being beside it. Leaving it undisturbed, I crept away and deeper into the nest.

Hostiles surrounded me on all sides. Without an unobstructed view of the entire lair, I could not accurately gauge their numbers, but if I had to guess, I would place it at more than one hundred.

Simone hadn’t been lying. There was no way our small party could’ve taken on the entire nest.

The lair itself was characterized by oddly glistening ebony boulders and broken-off shards of the same material. According to Moonshadow, the boulders could be found in every known stygian nest, and many scholars assumed it was the black stones themselves that gave birth to the nether creatures, but no one knew for certain.

Up ahead, a trio of serpents slithered lazily across my path, and I was forced to a halt as I waited for them to pass.

Thankfully, the nest was large enough that its denizens were spread out, and as long as they continued to move languidly about, mindsight gave me enough forewarning to weave a zigzag path through them.

The snakes ahead moved out of the way, and I slunk onwards, toward the center of the nest. It was there that I would find the seed.

“What's the hold-up? Why aren’t you in position yet?”

Simone's voice, loud with impatience and emerging abruptly from the farspeaker bracelet, broke my concentration and almost caused me to stumble.

“Shh,” I murmured. “I can't talk right now.”

There was a moment of heavy silence, then, “Where are you?”

“In the nest,” I replied curtly.

“What are you doing in there, you idiot!” Simone hissed angrily. “Have you forgotten the plan? You are supposed to—”

“I'll call when I'm ready,” I replied and cut the link.

Simone could, of course, always reestablish communication, but I was betting she wouldn't once she had a moment to cool down and think matters through. Disturbing me would help no one, least of all her party.

It took me another ten minutes of careful skulking to reach the center of the lair and catch my first glimpse of the seed. Moonshadow had been right. It was unmissable.

The seed was maybe thirty yards ahead of me but burned with a darkness so dense that not even the mists could not obscure it from this distance. Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the creatures about it.

From this far out, I could make nothing of their numbers or levels. But I was sure the region was thick with stygians.

Focusing on the bracelet, I said, “I've found it.”

“The seed?” Simone shot back.

Glancing about, I searched for somewhere secure to hide. “Yes,” I answered absently. Three yards to my right was a large boulder, nearly twice my height. It was not much of a hiding place, but if I crouched down at its base...

“Well done. Are you ready to begin?”

“Give me a minute.” Padding forward, I slipped into the boulder’s shadow and braced my back against it. Then I uncorked the flask I held ready and gulped down its contents.

You have consumed an invisibility potion, completely shielding yourself from sight for 60 seconds.

“Do it now,” I instructed.

The response was instantaneous.

A guttural roar shattered the bleak quietness of the nether. Deafening, resounding, and savage. It was Barac, his already loud voice amplified tenfold by Moonshadow’s magic.

The nest denizens reacted exactly as predicted.

All about me, serpents stretched up tall and hissed angrily, only to drop down a moment later and slither furiously towards the rift.

The call to arms had been sounded, and the challenge had been accepted.

Pressed up against the boulder, I ducked my head into my hands and curled up tightly into a ball. All I needed to do now was wait. With the boulder at my back, I could be sure at least that none of the stygian beasts would accidentally stumble across me.

I sensed a serpent slip up the rear of the boulder. I didn’t look up. A moment later, it dropped to the ground less than three feet away. I was in no danger, though.

A hostile entity has failed to detect you!

The beast’s attention was focused fully in the direction of the rift, and it barely paid heed to its surroundings as it shot forward across the ground.

“The nest is on the move,” I reported.

On my right, a large group surged past. They, too, fail to sense me.

Multiple hostile entities have failed to detect you!

Then the trickle of passing stygians became a horde. A young hydra, moving at a faster pace than the one we’d killed, thundered across the ground to my left. More snakes passed me by on the right. Wings fluttered through the air above me.

At the last, I looked up, sneaking a peek through my hands.

Serpents, half as huge as Besina had been, flapped large wings to ponderously propel themselves forward. Sudden concern tugged at me. Airborne foes were something else entirely. Reaching out with my will, I analyzed one of the creatures before it could disappear from view.

The target is a level 136 flying serpent.

“Simone, we have a problem…”

~~~

“We'll handle it,” the party leader said when I was done explaining.

I took a moment to digest her response. There had been no hint of doubt in her tone. “You sure?”

“I am.” She paused. “Against the numbers you've described, we can hold for… ten minutes, no more. Can you finish things on your end before that?”

It was more time than I expected to have. “I will,” I replied just as firmly.

“Good. Simone out.”

Closing down the communication link, I turned my attention outwards again. The exodus was fully underway. With nothing else to do, I watched the beasts streaming past. Based on the direction they were heading, it seemed the crawling serpents were reacting as expected and using the ravine to reach the rift. Which was all to the good.

I knew the party intended on holding back the nest by keeping them bottled in the ravine. That would work well enough for the landbound horde but not so much for the airborne ones.

Yet Simone had taken the news of the flying snakes better than I expected, and I wondered if I was still underestimating the party’s abilities. The archer certainly did not lack for confidence.

How the party expected to hold back the flying snakes, I wasn’t sure, but I couldn’t afford to worry about that now. I had my own problems to deal with. The exodus had come to an end.

Over a minute had passed, and my invisibility potion had lapsed, but despite this, none of the horde’s stragglers had spotted me.

Not all of the stygians had abandoned the lair, though.

Even thirty yards from the seed, I could hear the angry hiss of the beasts that remained. From the sounds of it, they didn’t intend on leaving.

Bent in a half-crouch, I slunk closer. Ten yards out, my mindsight lit up. I kept advancing, wanting to get a firm handle on my foes’ numbers. Six yards away, I stopped again and took count.

There were a dozen serpents guarding the seed.

Damnation. That was far more than I'd anticipated. Worse yet, Barac’s roar had alerted the creatures, and I could feel them probing the mists attentively.

If I snuck closer, I was sure to be detected.

Remaining in position, I analyzed the beasts. The highest serpent was only rank twelve. However, that one had wrapped itself about the seed. I wasn't going to be able to blink in, grab the seed, and flee.

My lips turned down sourly. I had no choice but to deal with the seed’s guards first. I didn't have much time either. The clock was ticking.

I scanned the terrain, but visibility was still poor, and I saw nothing I could exploit. I will have to create my own advantage. Coming to a decision, I retreated a few yards and swung around to my left until I found a sizable boulder.

Then I got to work.

Tapping the blue rune on my trapper’s wrist, I extracted the items I needed.

You have passed a thieving skill check! You have removed 8 trap-making crystals from your trapper’s wristband. Remaining stored traps: 10 of 20.

As the enchanted crystals fell into my waiting hands, I cast set trap. A moment later, my eyes and fingers thrummed with energy, and I began preparing the killing ground.

Releasing the enchantment on the first crystal, I extracted a pressure plate trigger and extended it to its maximum length—some three yards—then carefully positioned it on the boulder’s left.

You have concealed a pressure plate.

Unfortunately, I had no way to funnel the serpents into a confined space, nor did I know precisely what path they would take once I initiated my ambush and was forced to allow for a wide margin of error with my traps.

Next, I released the enchantment on the other trigger crystals and placed them too.

You have concealed 3 motion cones.

I’d positioned all three cones atop the boulder and angled them downwards so that their fields of detection overlapped with that of the pressure plate. My hope was that the traps would trigger simultaneously, transforming the area about the boulder into a maelstrom of destruction. Four traps were probably overkill, but I couldn't afford to be careless and chose to err on the side of caution.

Lastly, I seeded the area around the boulder with the trap elements—fire enchantments. Working furiously, I connected them to the triggers.

You have connected 4 trap elements to 3 motion cones and 1 pressure plate.

4 x Firebomb traps have been successfully configured!

The trap elements faded from sight the moment they were in place. Sitting back, I studied my handiwork. Everything was ready and good to go.

There was only one more thing to do: lure the serpents.