Still panting heavily, both from pain and exertion, Brighid manages to gasp out, "Yes, it is just a bad cut, but still a minor Wound." Your Patch Wounds cast completes and the energy sinks into her belly, causing the ragged tear in her smooth skin to begin sealing back together. You are growing short of breath yourself and you reluctantly allow the Pulse of Life to fade; checking your HUD, you can see that Brighid's health is about halfway down and there is a sliver of dark red representing one or more Wounds which covers the final tenth or so of her Health bar. Even as you watch, however, half of the Wounded section vanishes and her Health jumps by a corresponding amount.
You hug Brighid tightly, not even caring about the blood and ichor covering her or the fact that you're hugging her hard plated torso rather than her actual soft and welcoming flesh. "Oh, thank god. I was terrified! That would have eviscerated you if you were a human, torn out your intestines and fouled your blood. People don't normally survive wounds like that."
She smiles tiredly at you and runs her fingers through your hair soothingly. "Well, good thing for me that centaurs are a little harder to kill! My intestines are the same place yours are, relatively speaking -- near my butt. My elven belly is mostly muscle. That was extremely painful but not a very deadly attack, which is why that area is not covered by heavy armor. Most of a centaur's vital organs are in our lower body, which is one reason I wear heavier armor there. Do not worry, my love, I assure you I am not that easy to kill. That said, would you mind patching me up some more? I did take two minor Wounds in that fight; the other is just cuts and bruises but it would be better to clear it now while we seem to have a moment."
You nod, taking her hand in yours and almost kissing it before realizing that it's as covered in bodily fluids as most of the rest of her, and just squeeze it instead. Then you pull out another leaf and heal her other Wound. Meanwhile, you check your prompts.
Aidan Lostlorn's party has earned 5,000 experience for killing 5 Rock Mite Hive Guards.
Congratulations! You have reached level 17 in Fire Magic.
Congratulations! You have reached level 6 in Vivimancy.
"Well, the good news," You tell Brighid as you tend to her injuries, "Is that those were the five Hive Guards the quest wanted us to kill. With how tough they were, though, I'm a little worried about whatever the Lord-Consort is."
Brighid nods and agrees, "Yes, that is a little worrisome. And there are bound to be many more adults and probably more juveniles as well. The queen herself is likely to be almost completely helpless, though, if we can just fight through to her. Also, these Hive Guards were so dangerous because there were five of them; it is much harder to fight five enemies at once than five enemies which come at you one at a time. We can leave if you want, Aidan, but we will fail the quest and the hive will recover quickly if the queen survives. I think we can still win, but if you are not feeling up to it there should be nothing between us and the exit."
You think it over as you re-cast Pulse of Life, rapidly healing Brighid's remaining injuries at the cost of your own Stamina. "No," You finally decide, "Let's finish this out. If you think we can win, I'll trust in your judgment. Let me catch my breath, that ritual takes me out pretty fast, then we can see what these Hive Guards were guarding."
After a couple minutes spent recuperating, your Stamina and Brighid's Health have fully recovered, and you both climb back to your feet and the well-armored Paladin leads the way into the chamber. Her pulsing light magic reveals a small, roughly circular chamber. The far walls are covered in sticky masses of what looks like white foam, and several much smaller mites, smaller than even the juveniles and lacking mandibles, crawl all over the masses. "Eggs." Brighid identifies them. "This must be the incubation chamber. That smaller passage there in the back corner must lead from the queen to here, and those small nurses carry egg sacks from her to here and care for them. Given that they are not attacking us, they are probably not capable of it. Love, if you will do the honors?" You nod and a second later, the thousands of eggs begin to go up in flames. The nurses scatter like roaches, fleeing from your fire, but in the end, they do not matter. A minute later, the the egg sacks are nothing but blackened, desiccated husks. After another minute spent just making sure, you head into the small tunnel, which Brighid has to bend forward to keep from hitting her head against the ceiling inside, and head towards what you hope will be the end of the Dungeon.
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