Dungeons of the Crooked Mountains

by Alexey Osadchuk

  The rope would jerk from time to time, telling me everything was fine out there. I would respond in kind. For the record, when it jerked the first time, I almost crapped my pants in surprise. But I got used to it.

  After every burrow, Miri would listen carefully to my report then scrupulously mark my findings on a map. And her map, by the way, was quite detailed. Seeing my interest, she didn’t hide the map from me. In fact, she eagerly explained everything depicted on it. That level of trust surprised and scared me at the same time. I really wanted to know what secrets these dangerous people held.

  For the most part, the caves I found were already marked on Miri’s map. All that remained was to check another six passages and I could head back. I had no desire to hang around any longer than I had to, so I ate a quick snack and headed into another burrow.

  There was a constant inexplicable feeling of panic clinging to me the whole time. But there was no justification for it. And I thought it was just me, but my companions also felt something. They were constantly turning their heads and listening for something.

  While I crawled, I tried not to think about how much stone, sand, dirt and water was above me. In large caves, such distressing thoughts did not occur to me. No, I only thought about that while enclosed on all sides like a little bug crawling inside a piece of straw. One squeeze from outside and that little bug would be no more...

  The burrow came to an end unexpectedly. I was ready for a longer crawl.

  It was a small cave with a fairly high ceiling. I looked around. So... No black megabats, though they generally preferred to stay up higher. No toadstools either. Up on one of the ledges, I saw the white tail of a viper flicker past. I froze, holding my breath... A few heartbeats later, the beast was hidden among the stones. Whew... It moved on... Either it didn’t notice me, or I scared it... Miri said these snakes never attacked people first. Most important is to keep your distance. If a viper gets too nervous, it might attack.

  I turned my head all around. Almost every one of these white snakes is trailed by a coldune, a kind of scavenger that lives down in the caverns. They devour everything that dies by the snake’s poison bite. They’re fairly cowardly but, if they sense an advantage, they’re sure to attack. Strangely, vipers and coldunes have something of a truce... I don’t see one anywhere. That must mean the snake is still young and hasn’t picked up a scavenger yet...

  All clear, I guess... I wanted to dive back into the burrow but out of the corner of my eye I noticed one of the round symbols Miri showed me earlier. Well, more accurately, a small part of one. Black mold had almost entirely covered it. Most likely, the next person to come here won’t even be able to see it.

  I should clean it off. Thankfully I can. Mold is level zero. Unfortunately, I won’t earn anything from it. The Great System doesn’t consider this fungus useful in any way.

  Doing my best to step quietly, I walked toward the opposite wall. As I went, I took out Dragonfly. The closer I came to the design, the more saucer-like my eyes became. Impossible!

  With a shivering hand, I started scraping the mold off the wall. When I was done, I took two steps back. What I’d first taken for a scout symbol turned out to be nothing of the sort. This was an artistic mosaic made of pieces of pure white marble. It was a strange design. I suspect my companions have nothing to do with whoever created this symbol... And not just that. I believe I may have found a trace of the thing Skorx and his scouts have been searching so long to find...

  As I stared, I caught myself on the thought that the pattern reminded me of something. I look closer... Exactly! There it is! It’s two fishing hooks connected together! There was the eye of the top one... Next to it the eye of the second. The tips of the hooks had the classic barbs. How did I not notice right away?

  And if I connected both barbs with a line, it would form an infinity symbol. And hey, there’s a little groove running between them... My hand reached for the image of its own accord... My finger just about touched the shallow channel when suddenly the rope tied to my belt started going crazy, giving three sharp tugs...

  Chapter 14

  DIVING INTO the burrow, I crawled quickly, fitfully scrambling my arms and legs. My little energy supply immediately told me I was pushing too hard. To hell with it! Most important now was getting back before it was too late!

  The rope gave another three tugs for danger. I was already pushing my Strength for all it was worth!

  My exit from the burrow was comparable to a cork flying out of a bottle of Champagne. The only thing missing was the celebratory pop.

  I was so manic and afraid that I completely forgot to take any precautions. Only when I was lying there breathing heavily next to the burrow entrance did I realize how many mistakes I’d made. I was crawling too loudly. Then without looking around, I jumped out of the hole headlong... And that isn’t all! I even started sobbing once while I crawled, imagining being left one on one with the nightmares that called this location home! Logically, I understood it was just panic. And sooner or later, I was sure to make a misstep... But I wasn’t expecting it to happen at the worst possible time. Precisely when I needed to keep a cool head.

  The first thing that jumped out at me was our little camp site. It just wasn’t there... Where is Miri?! Where are Dag and Chad?! Where did they go?! If there was a scuffle with some monsters, where are the tracks? Where is the blood? And why is there no stuff?

  I looked around in a daze. There was my knapsack... Lying all on its lonesome a few steps from where I left it... By the looks of things, they did rifle through it despite Miri’s assurances. I followed the rope. The other end was tied to a big rock. But why?!

  Then my gaze paused on the cave entrance... It was closed... The last piece of the puzzle fell into place... I had simply been abandoned. And intentionally. Cynically sending me out to scout, they packed up shop, for some reason tied my rope to a rock and left, blocking the passage. But why?! What did I ever do to them?! After all, I was doing exactly what they wanted! I didn’t try and trick them like the boy... Why did they do this to me?!

  Behind me came a blood-curdling snarl. I could feel the hair on the back of my head stand on end. My knees buckled all on their own. Primordial fear paralyzed my whole body.

  I turned slowly. A few steps away from me, at the opposite wall of the cave, there was something big and formless standing stock still. Its skin is hairless, wrinkly and a dirty yellow shade. It’s wide mouth is full of sharp teeth. Most of all, the beast looks like a flesh-fly maggot, but it’s the size of an adult bull.

  I forgot how to breathe. The monster stamped its short legs quickly, crawling into the middle of the cave right over to our former campsite and stopped. It’s thick head fell to the ground. Only then did I notice that the monster had no eyes. I think that’s the very factor that kept me from dying then and there.

  A few powerful breaths in and out, and the gigantic maggot charged forward. Toward the door the scouts had blocked. With horror, I watched the monster racing along and following their tracks. Then it hit its foot on the carefully tied rope and started pulling it in.

  Much to my own surprise, I started to act at once. Dragonfly slipped into my hand. The narrow strip of steel digs right into the densely woven fibers. But alas, the knife is not doing enough damage for a level-two rope with seventy units of durability. Another couple tugs and the creature would be pulling me.

  Miri’s complicated knot was not easy to undo. Only one surefire option remained. Quivering fitfully, my fingers somehow undo my belt latch. And I finish just as the last loop of slack rope is pulled in and my belt flies off toward the monster like a spooked gray bird.

  Not wasting any more time, I turned around and ran for the burrow I was just in. On the way, I grabbed my knapsack, which had grown a good bit leaner.

  My bodily movements didn’t go unnoticed. The monster reacted instantly. Turning quite nimbly, it ran backward, determining my location without fail. How can it do that?! Either it wasn’t totally
blind, or this creature had impressively sharp hearing.

  Pushing my meager abilities to the limit, I thankfully won our race to the death. A short awkward jump and I dove back into the narrow burrow. Without stopping, I started crawling forward.

  My lungs on fire, joints and muscles just about to snap from strain, my vision starts to fade... No! Just don’t lose consciousness! Just not now!

  I managed to crawl another three of four paces before the walls were shaken by a blow of monstrous force. After that, a horrifyingly angry roar blasted into the burrow.

  Done! I made it! The monster can’t get me now!

  I heard it slam the wall a few times in quick succession. Then some of the stone above me started crumbling, telling me the bad news. Apparently I started celebrating too early... This creature was magical... I squinted my eyes and saw it easily tearing through stone and widening the cave worm’s burrow to fits its considerable dimensions. Before each gnash of the monster’s teeth, I saw lilac bursts of electricity.

  Gathering my willpower into a fist, I raced forward.

  The burrow quickly filled with dust. Now I was moving by feel. But that was only half my trouble. With every hit, a disgusting and stinking smell wafted out of the monster’s mouth. Now I couldn’t say what would kill me faster — its tooth-filled jaws or the unbearable stench.

  A few minutes later, I realized I had no hope of winning this race. Every yard I crawled, the creature burrowed two. Beyond that, I was growing weaker all the time. And the monster could seemingly sense that, so it was gnawing into the stone with ever more gusto...

  Through dust and tears of despair, I saw cracks cover the burrow walls then start getting wider and wider with every terrible blow... For some reason, my flagging consciousness decided that dying in a cave-in would be less painful than getting crunched up in the jaws of a giant flesh-fly maggot. So I started praying to all the gods to cave this whole mountain in on my head. Just so I would die before this bastard got to me.

  But my prayers went unanswered. What was more, I could feel something wet and hot touching me... It was greedily entangling my body.

  First I thought a viper was constricting my legs and chest with its disgusting white body. I even smiled victoriously... Not a cave in, but a quick death nevertheless — poison... But then the snake started behaving very strangely — dragging me toward the creature which had for some reason gone quiet. And then it finally reached me! That is no snake! It’s the maggot’s tongue!

  I shuddered and started awkwardly grasping at the cracks and stones. The monster did not like that. It started pulling faster. Dragonfly appeared in my right hand all on its own. No, I’m not gonna die like some flea-ridden sheep! I’m gonna fight to my last breath! The way Happy died, knowing he couldn’t win!

  Take that! And that! The skin of the monster’s tongue was unexpectedly thin. The sharp blade of the artifact of the Ancients sank into its stinking flesh time and again like a hot knife going through butter...

  - You have engaged Gulper Female (30) in combat!

  - You have dealt 2 damage!

  - You have dealt 1 damage!

  - You have dealt 0 damage!

  - You have dealt 2 damage!

  I couldn’t hit any more after that... The creature’s tongue suddenly disappeared and my ears were struck with a piercing shriek of pain. Then I felt a powerful jolt from underground, accompanied by a monstrous cracking and rumbling boom.

  While losing consciousness, I start to smile. I’m sure Crum and Happy will appreciate my valor.

  * * *

  My consciousness returned in fits and starts. Dream and reality got mixed together, yielding strange, surreal scenes. Father and mother were in my visions. They were sitting at the fireplace in our house, conversing enthusiastically. I tried to shout out to them but, alas, they couldn’t hear me.

  Happy was there too. He looked at me for a long time with a harsh but calm gaze. He nodded in approval, then disappeared.

  I was expecting to see Crum, but he never showed up. And I wanted to see him so badly. To beg forgiveness for getting him involved all this shit...

  Sometimes my visions were interrupted and before my eyes I saw a thick green fog. It had an unbearable stench and was deafeningly quiet. At such times, somewhere on the edge of my consciousness, the thought would form that I am in the real world. That my tormented body is lying somewhere in the depths of the Crooked Mountains in a gods-forsaken gnomish mine. And that somewhere next to me is a gigantic creature desperately trying to pull me into its mouth with a disgusting tongue.

  A message started flickering insistently before my eyes, tearing me from oblivion. And there was also something in the archive. By the looks of things, in the brief instants when I was slightly awake, I had mechanically swiped the new notifications aside.

  It took some effort to concentrate on the flickering red letters.

  - Attention! Your hiding spot has been uncovered!

  - Attention! Your hiding spot has been uncovered!

  - Attention! Your hiding spot has been uncovered!

  “Hiding spot?” I rasped, baffled then gave a loud cough.

  My throat was parched. My tongue was stuck to the roof of my mouth. Sand grating in my teeth. My head splitting.

  I look around in incomprehension. Why am I still alive? Where’s the monster? And where the Bug am I?

  Partially blind, I start feeling around with my hands. Walls, soft moss, dust, rocks... This doesn’t seem like that creature’s stomach... It’s more like I’m still in the burrow...

  My hand suddenly hit on something familiar... Seemingly, my knapsack...

  My right hand plunged into the bag. Please tell me they didn’t take it... Please...

  Awesome! There it is!

  I took out the simple little tin flask as if it were an invaluable relic. Still pretty heavy! In fact, I hadn’t drunk almost any since I last refilled it. The cool life-giving moisture flooded my dry mouth. I drank a long time, taking big greedy gulps. Oh, Great System! This was the tastiest thing I ever drank in my whole life!

  My thirst sated, I spent a bit of time sitting with my eyes closed, sorting through my thoughts and feelings.

  I wanted to crawl away from this frightening place but my empty energy supply wouldn’t let me. And for the record, I had exactly one point of Life. If not for the recent system message, I’d have died before ever regaining consciousness. So in the end, whoever looted my hiding spots saved my life.

  Actually, why “whoever?” By the looks of things, Livid had found my goods. I imagined their ugly mugs when they saw how many esses and tablets I’d stashed! Anyone from his gang would be so happy they’d have a stroke... Hopefully Frodi or even Livid himself...

  The dust had settled and I could see that the passage the monster chased me down no longer existed. My dry lips stretched into an acrid smile... Hehe, I guess my prayer for a cave-in did work in the end. Just not on me, it came down on that freak’s head!

  Although, if I looked at things logically, it was that thing’s fault. Miri said cave worms would secrete a special liquid when digging that reinforced the stone. But that monster just went crazy, losing all its fear and chomping through rock with complete abandon. And by the looks of things, it paid dearly for that. Hmm... Miri was right, the caverns do not forgive mistakes...

  My thoughts started revolving around what those scouts had done... Bastards! They set all this up! They knew this creature would come... That was why they were in such a hurry...

  Hold up... What if I had it all backwards? Exactly! Like in the games I used to play with father, I started “pulling at threads.” What if the monster lives in that cave? But sometimes leaves his home for a few days. And maybe it happens with enviable regularity, on a predictable schedule even. Hm... Seems like the truth... And Skorx was even hurrying the scouts along... We must have arrived too late. The creature was already on its way home. Either that or it just got home early...

  Now as for me... Well,
that was all easy... If those freaks hadn’t left poor Eric Bergman as bait, they would hardly have been able to escape the monster... The boulder blocking the passage would have been basically just a pebble to it. I mean, the way it crunched through that wall...

  Er... I guess it was a she... I think when I stabbed it with the knife, the messages showed the monster’s name and level...

  Suddenly it started to reach me... A cold sweat instantly covered my back... The messages!

  My heart seizing, I opened my tabs and was shocked...

  - You have killed Gulper Female (30).

  - Congratulations! You receive:

  - Experience essence (6000).

  - Gold tablet of Intellect.

  - Silver tablet (10).

  Oh gods! My body is shaking from the overflowing emotions! After all, this was exactly what the hunting trainers said back home! As long as you do even a little bit of damage, you get loot.