Dungeons of the Crooked Mountains

by Alexey Osadchuk

  Despite the nasty trick, my harn reacted in good time. A scathing strike of its spiked tail sliced through the air with a whistle but hit nothing. My cat gracefully dodged to the right, and I suddenly felt an urge to blast the lizard with a Ram. To be more accurate, Gorgie was mentally telling me to do it.

  But alas, I was so disadvantaged that I reacted too late. My spell also hit nothing but air. And by then, the thorntail was already attacking my pet from the other side. What a nimble beast!

  The two armored predators got tangled in a ball, hissing and roaring in rage. I was standing a few steps from the scuffle, breathless and cursing myself for missing...

  The spell’s twenty-second cooldown time felt like an eternity. I could sense the harn getting weaker. The enemy’s powerful claws and jaws had already pierced his hide a few times. Gorgie was saved by the fact that all its blows were glancing and not doing maximum damage. But he was getting weaker. I think I could feel it in my skin. Another few moments and the thorntail would be through with my protector. Then it would come running after me...

  When Ram reloaded, the scuffling creatures were just a few steps from the edge... The chasm will save us!

  As soon as I was ready to use my magic, I got a signal from the harn...

  “This time I won’t let you down!” I exclaimed.

  The spell knocked the thorntail off its feet and sent it skidding a few steps across the stones. It did no damage, but did stun it. I bit my lip hard, vexed, and looked on impotently as the lizard’s body sat motionless just one step from the edge of the chasm...

  The harn, not wasting time, leapt over to the creature and sunk his fangs into its scaled scruff. But alas, the lizard’s armor absorbed almost all the damage. The cat was totally unfazed, though. With his last drops of strength, he charged at the enemy on the precipice... A moment later, the still motionless body of the thorntail was careening down into the abyss...

  Suddenly all the sounds faded and we were again surrounded by normal silence...

  At first I couldn’t believe it was all over. The scuffle was just so fast... The harn stood a bit longer at the edge of the abyss, turned and trotted back in my direction with a bold gait...

  “You really are something, brother!” I couldn’t hold back some praise and embraced my savior by the neck.

  He licked my face and gave a satisfied purr.

  Then a second later, victory messages started coming in. The thorntail must not have survived the fall.

  I quickly opened Gorgie’s information. And I exhaled with relief... His life supply, which had drooped a fair amount during battle, was coming back pretty quick. The regeneration was running like clockwork. Checking his energy figures, I didn’t realize right away that I was seeing not two but now three supply bars. I closed my eyes and rubbed them with my hands. Clearly evidence of the stress. I’m seeing triple.

  I checked again and saw that my eyes were working just fine. It was just that my pet had gained a magic supply! I slid my gaze over the names and, bracing myself, discovered that Intellect now had a two next to it...

  The harn’s total mana supply was almost two times lower than mine. Just seventy units, fifty of which were from natural traits. But that doesn’t matter... My Gorgie is now a magical creature! Too bad he doesn’t have any spells or abilities... But that would all come with time...

  Beyond that, the harn got eight hundred experience from this battle. Strength, Health, Agility, Endurance and Speed had all gone up by two. And Bite and Paw Swipe each got one.

  Looking through the messages from the battle, I was pleasantly surprised. Despite the monitor being level eleven, my cat fought admirably. Another piece of evidence that a high level without great characteristics is just a number over your head.

  Despite his little Intuition, the harn managed to get a couple of crits in. I was feeling truly proud of my protector and only friend. A friend that would never betray me.

  Deeply touched, I again embraced Gorgie’s armored neck... He understood what was happening inside me like no other and gave a reassuring growl... Just then I started to believe everything would be okay and I would certainly be getting home...

  Once I calmed down, I finally let go of the beast and sat down wearily on the ground. Now time to sort through my messages. To be frank, I wasn’t much expecting much glamorous loot. As a matter of fact, I was expecting no rewards at all. What could I possibly get at level zero? Gorgie had done all the work, the laurels were his to reap. There weren’t many notifications. Well, to be more accurate, there was just one...

  - Attention! The Higher Powers smile upon you! You have replicated the feat of the Cunning Lila! You defeated magical creature over 10 levels higher than you without dealing a single point of damage!

  - Congratulations! You receive:

  - Experience essence (1000).

  - Gold tablet of Intellect (1).

  - Gold tablet “Thorntail’s Jump” (1).

  Thorntail’s Jump... Thorntail’s Jump... I fitfully open the tablet’s description.

  - Gold tablet “Thorntail’s Jump.”

  - Level: 1.

  - Category: Active ability.

  - Effect: + 3 to current progress in “Thorntail’s Jump” ability.

  - Weight: None. Takes no space.

  - Thorntail’s Jump.

  - Level: 0 (0/20).

  - Type: Magical ability.

  - Rarity: Rare.

  - Description:

  - Using magic, thorntails can jump behind opponents instantly.

  - Effect:

  - Be instantly transported behind an opponent.

  - Requirements:

  - Intellect — 5.

  - Expends 60 mana points.

  - Note:

  - Cooldown time: 10 sec.

  - Range: 15 ft.

  This feat clearly didn’t quite reach iridescent level given I got just a gold. But that was a minor quibble... People would rip out my arms and legs to get this tablet. I mean, it conferred a magical ability! Plus I now had two gold for Intellect. That is surely enough to repay my debts and buy off my parents’ house.

  With a heavy sigh, I glanced over at Gorgie. But I still have to get to the surface... And that ability, beyond all doubt useful, is great at increasing our survival chances. So what’s there to think about?

  Driving off all doubts, I took the gold tablets from my knapsack.

  “Did you see the way that lizard could jump?” I asked Gorgie, who was watching me attentively.

  “Hrn,” came his affirmative answer.

  “Well, now you can too,” I said, activating the tablet.

  * * *

  It’s day four since our victory over the thorntail. The day before last, the arrow finally brought us to the long-awaited marker. It was the same kind of white-marble mosaic as the first one... The same fishhooks... I wanted to celebrate but, to my deepest disappointment, after I gave another blood sample, the marker just gave us a new guide arrow and our journey continued...

  - You have dried Gray Moss.

  - Congratulations! You receive:

  - Experience essence (3).

  - Clay tablet “Herbalism.”

  - Clay tablet of Mind.

  The moss drying messages have been following me for a few days now. This, seemingly, would be the last. Number one hundred and ten. I didn’t know why they took so long, or why they came so scattershot. Although I did have a theory. It must have been raining on the surface. And because there were cracks in the ceiling of that cave, moisture was seeping inside, putting the moss-drying process on hold. To be frank, I had already forgotten all that. But the Great System sees all...

  The first few messages reminded me of Crum and Happy... I wasn’t myself that day... But eventually it let go of me...

  The cursed arrow was dragging us lower and lower. I was reminded of the gardens of stone the scouts told me were on level four. We left them behind just yesterday. That led me to think the harn and I were somewhere on level fiv
e or six of the caverns...

  The lower we went, the more dangerous the monsters became. We had to hide a bit and sometimes run... But other times we were able to do some hunting. We’d racked up a good number of kills: two vipers, three megabats, one coldune and one fangbloom, the stems of which have formed the backbone of my diet for two days now. They’re absolutely flavorless but have a meaty texture and fill you up pretty well.

  Esses aside, I’d gathered fourteen silvers, too. Gorgie and I had to fight pretty gruesome battles to get them. I’ve been leaning on building up his supplies whereas he’s been more emphasizing damage. In the end, we agreed to bring health up to the ceiling, and invest the rest into damage.

  Gorgie is ambivalent toward the fangbloom stems. He’d rather have meat. Especially snake meat. It seems to be his favorite. But alas, we weren’t coming across vipers all that often, and the stinky meat of the coldunes and megabats was inedible.

  So by the end of day four, when the arrow brought us to a small lake we both started licking our lips at basically the same time. Lungfish or in fact any other fish were just what the doctor ordered.

  That day just about ended in catastrophe... Gorgie very nearly died.

  And there was nothing to predict his brush with tragedy. As we entered the cavern, the harn rendered a verdict as usual. He told me there was nothing around and calmly trotted to the waterline. I kept five steps behind. I already had my flask at the ready. And just then something large and snake-like bolted out of the water in the harn’s direction. I was able to see only the shimmering brown side and head, which looked like a catfish.

  - Attention! Glitterspark Eel (17) has attacked your pet.

  Gorgie calmly, playfully even got out of the line of attack when suddenly the creature shot something pale and blue at him. A moment later I realized it was electricity.

  The harn fell like a swatted fly. His body started twitching. His tongue lolled out of his toothy mouth. Not paying attention to the flood of messages raining down on me, I blasted a Ram at the beast as it crawled slowly toward my friend. And without a sound, it flew back into the water looking like a wet brown lump. And it didn’t come back out.

  In the blink of an eye, I was at my pet’s side. And I immediately exhaled with relief. The electricity did no damage to the cat, but it did leave him with a nasty twenty-second paralysis...

  When Gorgie came around and could think sensibly again, we came to a mutual decision — we had to lay the smack-down on that creep.

  There were a couple reasons. For starters, it was food. We were both so hungry we could eat a horse. Whether the creature had edible meat, we couldn’t say. The harn has never seen anything like it before... But to be frank it doesn’t matter... The monster would only get in the way of our fishing.

  The next reason is trophies. This eel is clearly a magical creature. With a very intriguing ability or spell. Something like that would come very in handy for us. Though honestly, there was one significant “but.” The brute was level seventeen.

  There was one thing giving us hope — all my Ram’s damage got through unimpeded. That means this river predator has no defense. And if Gorgie could get to it, with his very powerful damage, we’d have every chance to win.

  Before taking any action, we decided to just watch the shoreline a bit. Sure it looked like a defenseless wretch despite the very effective ability, but it had somehow gotten up to level seventeen. That put us on guard. It must have had other surprises as well.

  At the opposite wall, the harn discovered an inconspicuous ledge ten feet off the ground. And it served as our observation post.

  I settled in for a long and tense watch but, to my surprise, in less than an hour we had the privilege of watching our first eel hunt.

  It was about like we thought. No real surprises.

  The aquatic predator’s first victim was a coldune. The toad-like creature had come for a drink of water and for a very long time couldn’t make up its mind whether to come up close or not. Always on guard and taking shelter the scavenger, which always attacked in secret, got set up behind a large boulder thirty feet from the shore for an ambush.

  Too bad we couldn’t see what was happening underwater from the ledge. Cross my heart and hope to die, the eel already knew it’s next victim had come.

  The coldune meanwhile made sure it was safe and finally decided to act. Taking cautious clumsy jumps, he came near the water’s edge. Just like with the harn, the eel beached itself and immediately used its ability.

  The poor coldune didn’t even have time to get scared. Twenty seconds of paralysis was more than enough for the lake monster to reach its prey. And then we saw what might have happened to the harn if I hadn’t intervened.

  The big fish-snake hybrid clamped its wide jaws down on the coldune’s body without the slightest effort. And it just popped like a ripe tomato...

  My eyes wide in horror, I watched the scavenger’s lifeless body disappear beneath the depths. I realized the harn’s armor would have made zero difference against a bite like that. Now I see how this creature managed to survive despite its defenselessness. And it didn’t merely survive... It was thriving. And it ate very well. Electricity coupled with a bite that did beyond extreme damage, eviscerating its victim’s brain - there was the answer to our riddle.

  I could sense Gorgie’s emotions. He was no less impressed.

  “You know, big buddy,” I whispered. “That creep is perfectly happy to eat a coldune. I wouldn’t like to know what its meat tastes like. Plus, I think with a big fish like him in a little pond like this, there can’t be any more fish... The only thing of value is its magical ability. But let me tell you... No ability is worth getting your head bitten off...”

  Gorgie was in complete agreement.

  “I say we get some sleep here until the Lair wears off then move on. Let’s just leave this big fish alone. Play it safe.”

  I got some good rest in those five hours. I even managed to sleep a bit. Now, the lair was a matter of minutes from expiration. We were just about to leave when suddenly all the scales on the harn’s back stood on end. That kind of thing only happened when something very dangerous came near.

  “Big! Evil! Strong!” came a brief description of our surprise guest.

  Not breathing, we froze on the ledge. And the harn slightly blocked me with his body. Thankfully, his special coloration made us blend into the wall.

  A second later, throwing caution to the wind and thumping its big thick paws, a level twenty-five stonehide tusker came out on shore...What a massive creature! Thrice the size of Gorgie, it’s body is reminiscent of a bear’s. It’s face is wrinkled and has two sickle-like tusks on either side of a pig-like snout. It also has a large crest of exposed bone running down its spine. Based on the name, its gray hairless skin must be unusually thick.

  The tusker stopped next to a bloodspot on the ground, the only reminder of the dead coldune. It gave a loud sniff, then it shook its head carelessly and continued toward the water. I saw a barely visible movement on the smooth surface of the water. The eel was lying in wait. Did it really think it could win? This thing’s armored body would stomp the defenseless fish without even wincing.

  Holding our breath, the harn and I were waiting to see what would unfold.

  The tusker also must have noticed some movement in the water. Its ears perked up, but it didn’t slow down one bit. It’s waddling forward, seemingly accustomed to relying on his strength and tough hide.

  Another two steps and the tusker will be in the eel’s attack zone...

  And the huge snake-like fish did attack in the end! To the very last, I still thought it wouldn’t do it... But it did... So its instincts must have been strongly geared toward attack. And it doesn’t take size into account...

  The giant hog took a pale blue bolt of electricity to the forehead and collapsed to the ground, its thick legs splayed awkwardly to the side. The eel, its jaws dislodged, sunk its teeth into the armored forehead of the massive pig. M
y first thought was, “this thing’s met it’s match now.” But I was dead wrong. The bone-chilling crunch of its skull was clearly audible even from way over where we were. I just started gaping, stunned... That thing must have some crazy damage!

  Alas, twenty seconds was still not enough for the eel to complete its victory. The giant hog came back to its senses and immediately reflexively shook its powerful head, impaling the slimy brown fish on one of its tusks. But that only made things worse. The mortal wound just made the eel crunch its powerful jaws down even harder...