But that wasn’t me, Lucas realized, staring at the hole in front of him. I wasn’t always the type to just lie back and do nothing. Previously, he had been the active one, the driven one. If there was a problem, I had to solve it. He jumped around Bonnie and Nick and then dove toward the newly-formed opening.

“PAYCHECK!!” Bonnie yelled from behind Lucas. “Paycheck! Don’t leave me!”

“Now, that’s what I’m talking about!” Nick shouted as he chased after Lucas.

Lucas jumped through the ring of fire, taking 5 damage from the flame and another 20 from the short fall as he landed in the center of a cavernous room. The walls and ground were solid rock and granite, and there were dozens of large, silk strings as thick as a man’s arm strung to and fro, holding up the bodies of what looked like Imperium soldiers. The ground was covered by a thin layer of water, making the entire place look like one giant puddle with dry patches of rock peeking through. Lucas was certain the jagged rocks would cut into his feet if he wasn’t careful.

“Ouch!” Nick cried, landing beside him. “Where in a box of burnt popcorn are we?”

And what do I do now? Lucas wondered, ignoring his cursing sidekick. Without Bonnie’s torch or Nick’s Firebolt, the only lighting available to see by was the little filtering down from the flames above as they continued to burn away the spiderweb. He could use the Firebolt trick to generate a bit of light again, but it likely wouldn’t be enough in such a large space.

“What's that?!” Nick shouted suddenly, twisting around and firing one of his spells at a wall where a noise came from.

The magic didn't strike anything, but the flash of light was enough to finally illuminate a small part of the cavern. Lucas immediately knew exactly where they were: a hatchery. The eggs were about twice the size of a basketball and stacked in clusters, covered in a layer of webbing and mucus, and there was an occasional skull or femur lying about with a thin layer of glistening web next to it.

“I've never seen so many eggs!” Nick shouted again, this time with much more panic in his voice. He twisted about from side to side, shooting spells as fast as he could at batches of eggs.

Images of what those egg sacs might release flashed through Lucas’s mind, and he joined in on Nick’s spellcasting frenzy. Scorching flames erupted from their staves in every direction.

Then the ceiling above cracked open, and a falling object struck Nick on the head.

“Son of a dry, crusty tart! One of them is above us!” Nick shouted, directing the spell he had been channeling toward the roof of the cavern.