The tannery swallowed them whole.
Once inside, the streets gave way to corridors made from warped beams and root-veined walls, stitched together with old leather like a butcher's patchwork. The air was thick with the sour tang of chemicals and the faint sweetness of hive sap.
Kael kept his knife low, eyes tracking every twitch of the walls. The roots here weren't static — they breathed.
"Feels like we're inside a lung," Ryn muttered, crossbow at the ready.
Kael nodded. "And the heart's somewhere in here."
The floor creaked under their boots. Every sound was muffled, swallowed by the leather-strung walls. Somewhere deeper in, a slow, steady thump kept time with Kael's pulse.
They turned a corner and froze.
A cluster of hive drones crouched in the corridor ahead, their bodies half-fused into the floor. Roots ran from their spines into the planks beneath them, pumping sap through the hive's network.
Hive Root-Binders — C-Rank (Low), GP ~350 each.
"They're feeding the walls," Ryn whispered.
Kael stepped forward. The nearest Binder's head snapped up, its jaw unhinging.
Stonehide flared, Kael rushing in before the others could fully rise. His blade, edged with Iron Fang, slid through the Binder's chest plate like soft bark. The thing spasmed, roots tearing loose from the floor.
[C-Rank (High) | GP: 915 + 8 = 923]
The others screeched, the sound carrying into the walls. Roots overhead shivered.
One lunged, claws aimed for his throat. Kael dropped low, Ember Lunge igniting under his ribs. He burst forward in a flash of heat, punching the knife up through its sternum.
The heat left a scorched cavity, sap boiling as the Binder crumpled.
[C-Rank (High) | GP: 923 + 8 = 931]
The third Binder didn't attack — it turned and slammed its hands into the wall. Roots whipped down from the ceiling, trying to snare Kael's arms. Stonehide took the brunt, but one root still coiled tight around his wrist.
Ryn's bolt punched into the Binder's neck, and it went limp. The roots slackened.
"Noise like that's going to bring more," Ryn warned.
Kael nodded, wiping sap from his knife. "Then we move before they close the way."
The corridors grew narrower, the roots denser. Sometimes they had to duck under low beams covered in fungal growth. Other times, the floor sloped down into shallow pools of stagnant water that smelled of tannin and blood.
Every so often, Kael touched the wall with his bare hand — feeling the pulse. It was stronger now, faster.
They reached a wide chamber that might once have been a main drying hall. Now, it was a hive nursery.
Dozens of pale pods hung from the rafters, each holding the curled form of a half-formed drone.
At the far end of the hall, a larger shape stirred — the pods rippling as it moved.
Hive Brood-Warden — C-Rank (High), GP ~480.
It dropped from the ceiling with a wet thump, its four arms bristling with hooked claws. Roots grew into its flesh and out again, connecting it to the pods.
Kael stepped forward before it could charge. Ember Lunge propelled him across the hall in a streak of heat; his knife, honed with Iron Fang, cut a long gash through its torso.
The Brood-Warden shrieked, flailing. The pods pulsed faster, as if the fight was waking them.
"Kael!" Ryn shouted, loosing a bolt that split one pod open. The half-formed drone inside tumbled out, twitching but weak.
Kael took the opening — Stonehide absorbing a blow that would've crushed his ribs — and drove his blade up into the Warden's throat. Roots snapped. The creature collapsed, leaking sap that hissed where it touched the floor.
[C-Rank (High) | GP: 931 + 12 = 943]
They didn't linger. The nursery was waking. Pods trembled, splitting along their seams.
They ducked into a side corridor just as drones began to drop from the ceiling. The passage here was tighter, forcing Kael to turn sideways in some sections. The roots on the walls twitched at their passing, brushing his shoulders.
The next corner opened into what looked like an old vat room — huge circular pits once used for soaking hides. Now the vats were filled with dark, churning sap.
And in the center of the largest vat, suspended in a web of roots, was a massive cluster of pulsing flesh.
The heart.
Between them and it stood a figure.
At first, Kael thought it was another drone — but it stepped forward on human legs, its movements precise and deliberate.
The face was hidden behind a mask of root and bone, but the voice was human. "Leave," it said. "The hive doesn't need your blood tonight."
Kael tightened his grip on the knife. The GP pressure rolling off the figure was heavy.
Hive Blade-Keeper — B-Rank (Low), GP ~1,100.
The Blade-Keeper drew two long blades of chitin, each glistening with sap. Roots crawled across the floor between them, sealing the door behind Kael and Ryn.
Kael's Stonehide flexed instinctively, the air between them growing hot as he readied Ember Lunge.
Ryn stepped to the side, crossbow loaded, eyes locked on the target. "Your move."
The Blade-Keeper tilted its head. "So be it."
It lunged.