Erik had charged ahead into the cave, eventually running right into am object that was obscured by the darkness. Whatever it was he ran into, he bumped off, almost as if he bounced off a wall like a ball.
"Goodness," Erik groaned. "Wasn't expecting that..."
Erik slowly made his way back to the object in question, and felt it with his hand. The object was large, round, and soft to the touch.
What... is this? Erik thought. He then turned his head to his right, where he had noticed a large tail settled on the floor. A tail?
Erik's eyes widened in sudden realization. Wait... The object then shifted slightly, the tail coming closer to Erik, accompanied by a low rumbling sound coming from within the object. A rumble that sounded not-too-unlike the build-up of gas in one's system.
It became all-too-clear, all-too-late that Erik had run into the rear-end of a large creature - and that creature was experiencing a bout of indigestion. Erik, unfortunately, was right behind the beast, right within blast range.
So, that blast from before--?
Before Erik could finish his thought, he was greeted by a large blast of hot air.
BBBRRRRROOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMPPPPHHHTTT!!
The blast launched Erik backwards, away from the monster's butt, sending Erik straight into a large stalagmite. The force of the impact, while not enough to seriously injure Erik, was still enough to pop that bubble sealed around his head, causing Sense Protection to cease working. Upon that, Erik was then immediately assaulted with the overwhelming rancid odor of flatulence that had no-doubt built up in this area of the cave system.
"Ugggghhhh.... great..." Erik groaned. "More... gas..."
Erik's expression changed upon the realization that he was able to smell the scent. Oh no - the poison!
Erik then quickly clasped both his hands over his nose and mouth, hoping that he was fast enough to not let any of the toxic fumes into his body.
Am I seriously gonna fall to ANOTHER fart? A poisonous one at that?! Erik's mind raced.
After a few moments, Erik noticed that nothing was happening to him or his body. Wait, wait... this can't be poison, right?
The smell still lingered in Erik's nose. It just stinks!
Erik then faced his gaze over at his right shoulder, where Drake had miraculously still been. Erik was surprised, thinking the little salamander would have been flung off. Drake just looked up at Erik, seemingly unfazed by the stench.
"Oh, goof to knom you're doing well for yoursef..." Erik said, muffled from his hands covering his face. Once he turned to face forward once more, he noticed that the beast's rear-end was a few yards ahead of him. He now had a better idea of the size of the creature just from the size of its behind alone - it was about five times the size of Dober, with the tail being about six feet long.
Erik then heard it pass gas once again.
BRRRRRPPPPTTTT!!
Erik squinted his eyes. Ugh, I should have figured even the creatures here would fart like nobody's business as well!
Erik then heard a voice coming from beyond the creature.
"Goodness, Moira! You're filling the cave with your stench again..."
Another voice responded, "Me? C'mon sis, that was totally you!"
Wait... those sound like two females... Erik wondered. He then noticed that his sword laid on the ground in front of him, likekly having landed there from the blast that sent Erik back. He got up and picked the sword off the ground with one hand, the other still covering as much of his nose and mouth as he could.
Erik slowly inched his way closer to the large butt again, cautious of any future gaseous emissions, as the two female voices continued to bicker amongst themselves.
"Moira, we have discussed this before - the copious amount of meat you are consuming is giving us indigestion!"
"Sulfy, seriously? You can't honestly think it's the meat when you've been having all those fruits and vegetables and crap. That's the stuff turning us into a fart factory!"
"Oh, how crude of you to call it such... our chambers have been full of this stench for the past few days."
"And you're not used to it by now?"
"Why should I be used to it?!"
Once Erik got back up to where he was before he was launched, he poked one of the beast's cheeks with the tip of his sword.
"Oh my!"
"Whoa!"
Two large heads then shot up from behind the beast's... well, behind, as both looked towards the source of the poke. Erik then took a few steps back, his sword still pointed in front of him.
"Avaf, file beath!" Erik mumbled through his hand. "Your days stinkin up thif cave are done!"
Both heads then looked at each other.
"What did he say?" The head on Erik's left said.
"I'm not quite sure," the one on the right replied. "His speech is muffled by his hand covering his mouth." The head then turned back to Erik, "Uh, I beg your pardon, sir... can you please repeat that?"
Erik rolled his eyes. "I sad... you two are done stiffing up this cave!"
"Stiffing?" the left head said. "Wait, do you mean 'stinking?'"
The right head then became embarrassed. "Oh my, no! Do you mean you... you heard us just now?"
"Seems he smelled it, too, judging by how he's covering his nose," the left head added.
The creature then stood up and turned it's body towards Erik, circling it's rear away from him. The more cordial head was on the beast's right side, while the more causal between them was on its left, leaving them on opposite sides of where they were relative to Erik's position.
"I'm terribly sorry about that, good sir!" The cordial head apologized. "We had no idea we had a guest! Is the scent really so foul?"
"It oughta be!" the casual head interjected. "Hydra gas is way more smelly than regular ol' human gas!"
"Moira! Not in front of company!"
"What, it's true! Besides, he clearly both heard and smelled us, so no use being a priss about it."
"Oh, so now it is both our faults once a third party is involved?"
"Hey, I'd take all the credit if it wasn't for all those cave mushrooms and fungus you've been stuffing your face with!"
As Erik continued to listen to the two heads of the hydra argue, his sword slowly lowered. It was becoming increasingly clear that these two were not entirely dangerous.
As the two continued, Erik could hear a faint voice coming from behind him.
"...rik..."
He turned to see Tyrel, Dober, and Simeon all coming closer. Erik waved his sword to signal that he could hear them. Once the three caught up to him, Tyrel said, "Y'know how I was telling you about running headlong into things?"
Erik just gave him an annoyed glare in response. Simeon was preparing another Sense Protection in the meantime.
"Oh hey, he's got a whole party with him!" The casual head said.
"Indeed he does..." the polite one said, dejected.
Tyrel looked up at the two female hydras. "So... you two can talk."
"Yeah. What, is that so weird?" the casual one replied.
"Not at all, miss - I've heard many tales of hydra being able to speak, just never had the fortune to see one myself." He then gave a little gentlemanly bow. "A pleasure to meet you both."
"My my, he is so polite!" The cordial head said. "Much apologies for your companion there - we were not aware he was there."
"Don't worry about it! Honestly, he has himself to blame."
Erik has gotten a new bubble placed on his head, and after he took in a big gasp of air, he said, "Alright, alright, I get it... Let's just say I wasn't quite expecting to run into the ass of a flatulent hyrda."
The casual head laughed. "Oh, so that's what I felt on our butt? That's hilarious!"
"Moira, please don't make this into a laughing matter..."
"Oh, lighten up, Sulfy, it's best to get over it sooner or later - after all, the moment has already... passed."
"Moira!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------
The four adventurers took stock of the female hydra that stood before them. Their size was massive, with their height towered over the party as they stood on their hind legs. Their build was bulky and weighty, a combination of fat and muscle, while the necks connecting the heads were slimmer by comparison. Perhaps the most prominent feature was their pronounced belly, as it was very round and smooth.
The two introduced themselves to Erik and the others - their right head was Sulfene, a rather welcoming, soft-spoken head with a polite demeanor. Their left head was Moira, a much more boyish personality between the two, with frequent use of slang terms and a more casual attitude.
Time passed as the party explained the reasoning behind their encounter with the female hydras, to which Moira replied, "Ohhh, hahaha, I get it now! So it was just a big misunderstanding then!"
"We apologize again for launching you before, Sir Erik," Sulfene added. "It was very... uncouth of us."
Erik rubbed the back of his head. "Ehh, don't worry about it... I'm mostly over it..."
Dober spoke up. "The flyer made it seem as though you two were rather fierce - seems like you two are rather friendly to me."
"Yes, well... all the same," Sulfene replied, "if our presence is causing issues for the nearby townsfolk, perhaps we best make our leave."
"To think our farts are so strong, you can smell 'em from outside!" Moira gloated.
"Moira, this is serious - we've caused a disturbance," Sulfene said tersely.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it, sis..." Moira said in an annoyed tone.
Erik had a thought at the forefront of his mind, and he was anxious to ask the two a single question:
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