Into That Wild Blue Yonder

14. Para Bellum

Idara shoved the door open and turned for her own room for a few things before working on a plan. Ulan followed in right behind, and Colm kept his direction and plopped onto his bed and waited. He'd never dealt with the undead before, so barring any truly foolish endeavors, he planned to take a backseat for the task ahead and let the monster experts figure this one out.

Idara's frustrated grunts dominated the room as she rustled and sifted through her bags for everything she needed. Colm heard a loud thud with an exclamation of excitement, quickly followed by Idara waltzing through the door with her gear under one arm and a hand rubbing her forehead.

"Already losing fights against your own ger?" Colm snarked.

"YOU'VE lost fights against the floor, seen it with my own eyes," Idara replied. Colm shrugged and leaned forward to look at her gear. "I brought out my monster gear. You like it?"

"That's a lot of gear."

"And I assume you don't even have gear for monsters?"

"These are just undead people," Colm said. "I'll bring a hammer from the hardware store for the gems."

"And what if the wiedergängers are stronger than you?" Idara asked. "I'd rather not drag your broken body out because you overestimated your own skill."

"I took you with your mace."

"That was a fluke at best!" Idara pouted.

"Whatever you need to tell yourself," Colm said. "But I'd rather stay quick on my feet."

"If you're going to insist on the risk, I'm gonna insist we test you," Idara said. Colm groaned. "No, no, we don't even have to go down there for a couple of days. We'll gather up supplies today, get a little sparring in at the end, and create a plan of attack tomorrow. It'll be fun!"

"I wanna see Idara beat you up," Ulan said with a grin.

"Why?" Colm asked with bewilderment.

"It'll be funny." Colm opened his mouth to respond, but couldn't think of a counterpoint and promptly shut up.

"Anselm is getting us a map of the mines, to include areas that may not be included in official maps," Idara began. "Once we have that, we'll know the sort of specialized navigation gear we'll need. Rock-climbing tools and ropes, small charges or spell scrolls, you know. Today, we'll get the basics; food, water, lights, first aid for bleeds and breaks and scrapes."

"You think these wiedergängers might be programed to use tools or weapons?" Colm asked.

"They might, you never know. Or someone could fall and break a bone and it protrudes."

"Mm-hmm."

"All of us get a full set. Colm, since you wear lighter armor, you'll carry the bigger light and any charges."

"Agreed," Colm said. Idara paused for a moment, then continued with a small smile.

"Glad you understand," she said.

The trio continued discussing necessary gear, and when they settled on everything they needed, they set up the stuff they did have in separate piles and set off into town to go find any other gear they knew they would need.

The main shopping sector of the city catered primarily to tourists, so the trio had to go into the industrial sector to find any equipment they would use in the mines. They split up to save time and effort in the search. Idara sent Ulan to get the first aid sets while she found food and water and Colm set off to find some proper lights and spelunking equipment for the task ahead.