Trial and Flame

by Kevin Murphy

  “Beats me, dude,” said Melee. “Just a lucky break, I guess. Let’s hurry up and pop a squat here for a few minutes. There’s no sense in getting ourselves into another fight, drained.”

  Melee sat down roughly, and the others soon joined her while pulling out and passing around supplies they’d recently acquired from the town of Klith, above. A dried, date-like fruit called radaad was sugary-sweet and paired surprisingly well with the salt-cured venison and a few hardy glugs of water. The flat, stale bread they’d gotten was less spectacular, but it made for a passable palate-cleanser between bites so that they could properly enjoy the rest of their meal.

  *Bhnnn*

  [You are satiated.]

  [HP/EP/MP will restore itself over time.]

  “So, what’s the deal with that thing?” Roth pointed at the still-glowing top of their last crystal foe, which had slumped against the side of the tunnel wall. “I figure that light should have gone out by now.”

  “Hmm,” said Mina. “Maybe that’s what we came down here for?” She stood up to take a closer look. “Melee, can you crack this thing open for me?”

  “Gladly,” Melee said as she rocked backward then used her returning momentum to hop up onto her feet. “I’ll be gentle.”

  After three decidedly not-gentle bashes with the pommel of her sword, the crystal surrounding the green glow shattered and a golf ball sized orb rolled out into Mina’s expectant hand.

  “Awesome,” Mina said with a satisfied smile. “One down.”

  “So, what’s it do?” Dakkon asked.

  Mina tossed it over to him. “Nothing yet,” she said. “We won’t know for sure until we get it refined.”

  Dakkon inspected the properties of the item:

  |Name: Unrefined Crystal Core

  |Item Type: Material

  |Durability: 40/40

  |Description: This cloudy orb radiates green light.

  “That’s not much of a description,” Dakkon said as he tossed the orb back. “Think we could make you a replacement necklace if we got a whole string’s worth of ‘em?”

  Mina laughed, delighted by the idea. “I think that would make for a fine focus, indeed.”

  “Let’s do it,” Melee said enthusiastically. “Those guys are pushovers. I think we’re beginning to get the hang of things down here.”

  \\\

  Once rested, the party began to hunt again. Armed with the ability to mow through the smaller crystal spiders and the knowledge of how to exploit the anti-magic defenders, they worked around the center of the hub, taking every first left when traveling down each straight passage. The process gained them two more unrefined crystal cores, one blue and the other a violet so dark it was difficult to tell that it was even glowing at all. There had been no other loot, save for the bodies of the crystal spiders, and bothering to break them down into visilium dust would prove every bit as tedious as mining for the low-value substance.

  After a full circuit around the center of the room through taking frequently-sealed passages, the group had amassed a considerable amount of experience. The nature of fighting against an enemy that attacked as a swarm meant that, in fewer than 10 skirmishes, Dakkon was able to gain four additional levels. Their kill rate was so high, in fact, they discovered a system which had apparently been designed to keep adventurers from power-leveling—or, gaining experience too quickly. The experience which they gained from killing creatures in the Tunnels Beneath Klith had been reduced to less than half of the amount they’d originally gotten. Even the core defenders, which they’d only slain a few of, now only offered a fraction of their original experience points. Dakkon hadn’t even seen that when furiously hunting the oversized, black boar monsters around Tian. He assumed that meant they needed to exceed a certain speed, or perhaps that the penalty was reserved for dungeons.

  Though it wasn’t particularly well suited for fighting against the hordes of resistant spiders, the power of his new class was plain to see. He wondered how much stronger his fire spells might become with extra intellect—how many more spells he could cast. With the 40 unallocated stat points he had, he could double his intellect and then some. Instead, Dakkon started by distributing a point into each of his statistics, one at a time, to loosely gauge their effect. At level 33, one point into stamina gave him 33 extra hit points—the same amount of mana he’d received from putting a point into intellect—and 16 more endurance points.

  Strength, dexterity, and agility were a little harder to gauge numerically. These statistics actually improved a player’s body in various ways and influenced how they interacted with the world. The importance of physical stats, no matter how small of an improvement a single point might make, shouldn’t be overlooked. Avoiding an encounter through stealth was useful for someone trying to lay low. Being able to climb to safety may prove to be a necessity. Having the ability to reliably hit a foe meant a shorter fight, as did generally hitting harder. Perhaps most importantly, dodging a blade by a millimeter might just mitigate more damage than the health afforded by a few extra points in stamina. Still, Dakkon knew that he needed greater survivability. Dying, or nearly dying, from a rogue critical attack simply wouldn’t do.

  Chronicle simply wasn’t like other games. It was a living world. Being a weak-but-hard-hitting glass cannon was fine in most worlds, but Dakkon had a feeling that overspecialization was a recipe for disaster. Furthermore, as an edgemaster he should eventually be able to surpass any hyper-focused character build through hard work and effort. With a committed sigh, Dakkon allocated half of his free stat points into intellect, then split the other half evenly amongst strength, stamina, agility, and dexterity. Luck couldn’t be distributed to, but he wouldn’t have done so even if he’d been able. The game had already seen fit to give him an abundance of the dubious stat.

  |————

  |Statistics ( ][][ ) ( ][][][ )

  |————

  |Strength: 28 — (25 + 3 Equipped) ( ? )

  |Stamina: 30

  |Agility: 69 — (55 + 14 Equipped)

  |Dexterity: 53 — (50 + 3 Equipped)

  |Intellect: 53 — (50 + 3 Equipped)

  |Luck: 50

  |Free Stat Points: 0

  |Hit Points: 1,040/1,040

  |Endurance: 545/545

  |Mana Points: 1,799/1,799

  |Level: 33

  |EXP Until Next Level: [_ 194/9,130 ]

  When he was finished distributing stat points, the combination of small improvements made Dakkon feel incredible—good enough to consider stockpiling even more stat points for an even larger future expenditure.

  Unfortunately for Dakkon, the resistant nature of his foes meant that he still wasn’t able to use his recently acquired fire magic. He’d attempted to draw burning lanes on the tunnel wall using Burning Sigil to keep swarms of core crawlers more tightly packed, but the spiders simply walked over them. He got to be useful again when taking down each of the bigger core defenders. The damage output of his dagger was still tremendous when it could be effectively deployed.

  Though they had found a routine to follow for their fights, Mina surprised the others by utilizing a double-casted group-heal after the second core defender fell. The speed with which she managed to double-cast her first skill put both Dakkon and Cline to shame, though they didn’t want to admit it. On the next group of core crawlers that the group fought after that, Melee complained that she’d tried to double-cast her yawp but couldn’t quite get the hang of it. Dakkon and Cline found Melee’s inability to instantly master the new skill strangely comforting.

  A full circuit around the inner room meant that, to get to anywhere new, the party would need to stray from their always-left method of exploration. Emboldened by their success, they were happy to push further away from their starting point in this area of the tunnels below Klith’s mines. A simple re-freeze of their primary marker pointing upward to their exit cost them none of their accumulating water, and they were willing to use a bit to indicate each turn the
y’d make in the future, in order to prevent themselves from getting lost.

  Heading straight down the very first spoke-tunnel that they explored, they ventured further, passing by the first left turn as they searched for more experience and the source of the fresher air. It was soon apparent that for those goals, however, they were heading in entirely the wrong direction.

  An intersection of tunnels gave them three new choices of where to travel, but along with ominous patches of dirt came the sickening smell they’d associated with fighting the vile, acidic bugs that had almost ended their expedition into the tunnels in their very first fight. Deciding it simply wasn’t worth the risk, nor the water they’d need to expend to reliably cover the holes, the group turned around and marched back to the central hub and marked that route with a perpendicular slash from Roth’s sword. To distance themselves from the horrible bugs as much as possible, they decided to head in the exact opposite direction.

  The opposite path had no foul-smelling odor, but neither was there any indication of where the fresher air might be entering from. There, too, were layers of dirt peeking through thinning areas of the crystal-bored tunnels, but the actual breaches of dirt into the passages were few and small enough that the group felt relatively safe. It seemed likely that, due to their small size, nothing would be using the cracks in the wall to hide.

  Another bisecting tunnel gave the group three new choices: left, right, and straight ahead.

  “Where do we go now?” Cline asked.

  “Straight?” suggested Roth. “That way we won’t have to bother with marking anything yet.”

  “I’ll admit I’m curious about what lies at the end of one of the spokes,” Mina said somewhat reluctantly. She had been the greatest advocate of the always-left system, and—though through no fault of her own—it had resulted in them getting thrown down into another level. Still, a growing familiarity with their environment made pulling away from what they’d been doing feel a little more comfortable. Their new system of marking each turn should work well at keeping them from getting lost, and the knowledge that there were several long passages that led back to the central hub encouraged exploration.

  “Me too,” agreed Dakkon. “Just how big is this place, anyway? It’s clearly way larger than the town above.”

  “And with multiple tiers. It’s huge… labyrinthine even,” said Melee.

  “Except for the branching paths, yeah,” Mina agreed.

  “What do you mean?” said Melee. “Roth called it, before. It’s like a maze down here.”

  “I think she means that the labyrinth only had one path, basically making it one long, silly hallway,” said Roth, to which Mina nodded.

  Dakkon and Cline squinted at Roth, surprised. Knowing something obscure and technical like that was typical of Mina, but they hadn’t expected tidbits of ancient trivia from Roth.

  “What? That can’t be right,” said Melee, defiantly. “Where’s the challenge in making your way down a long hallway?”

  “Maybe it’s a really, really long hallway?” suggested Cline with a grin.

  “The stories don’t really say,” Roth said with a shrug. “I always sort of imagined it was full of puzzles and trials.”

  “I thought it drained away the will to escape,” said Mina, scratching her head. “I didn’t take you for the mythology sort, Roth.”

  “I like a good story,” Roth said, “and it’s pretty hard to top the consequences of gods and those who defy them.”

  “I’ve never really read them,” admitted Dakkon. “There’s so much to do already that I’ve always found it hard to justify reading stories from thousands of years ago.”

  “Gods have always looked pretty cool in the movies, but I’m with Dakkon on this one,” agreed Melee.

  “There’s definitely some sense in that,” said Roth. “No one gets to do it all.”

  Interested to find out what was at the end of their chosen spoke-tunnel, the group pushed beyond the subterranean intersection toward what lay ahead. Another hundred meters or so of gently rising and falling ground led the group to their first dead end.

  The wall at the end of the tunnel was coarse. It was left in some half-finished state—worked on enough to make it unlike the rough backs of camouflaged core crawlers, but a far cry from the almost-smooth surfaces typical throughout the tunnels. Not wanting to take any unnecessary risks, the party stood back as Cline drilled the wall with a piercing arrow which became imbedded deep within the crystal, *thunk*-ing satisfyingly and with no other benefit. With no way forward, they needed to backtrack.

  Walking back to the crossroads gave the party yet another choice to make. With either route being equal as far as they knew, they formed a small way-marker in the center of the crossroads consisting of a segment of rope—frozen in ice—which pointed back toward the central hub. Then, they took a right turn and followed the new left-curving tunnel.

  Early into their new choice of directions, a large boulder-like stone outcropping intruded into the passageway, taking up most of the space. The large stone was smooth and—aside from perhaps shaping it—seemed to have been largely ignored by whatever had made the passageways they stood in. After squeezing past the boulder’s side, the layout of the tunnel took on a new look. Rounded stones of varying sizes studded the walls irregularly, whether placed by natural happenstance or deliberate design, it was hard to tell. The very act of finding something else strange and new reflexively set the party on edge.

  “This place just keeps on giving, huh?” said Dakkon.

  Cline reexamined the boulder they had just passed. “You guys notice how this thing’s curvature matches that of the tunnel?” Successfully having grabbed the attention of his companions, Cline added, “Dakkon, do you think we could spare a little water to put up some ice-supports here? You know, just in case…”

  The extra reinforcement would be unnecessary. The stone boulder was massive and quite imbedded in the wall. All the same, the group was tired of nasty surprises within these tunnels. Having found a new area, they reinforced the rounded stone with three pillars of ice and everyone felt better for the precaution.

  The party slowly walked forward as they explored the tunnel. The stone globes on the wall began to fall more neatly into rows, suggesting that they had been placed intentionally—or that the incorrect stones had been painstakingly removed. The globes were completely smooth to the touch as if they’d been meticulously planed.

  A wave of cool air slammed into the group like an ill omen. The party froze to make sure they weren’t experiencing some strange new attack, but after the moment’s hesitation, they realized that the wall of air had been a fresh one.

  “Rock on,” said Melee lowering her guard and motioning ahead. “Let’s check it out.”

  Moving forward cautiously, the little globes of stone spiraled around the walls of the tunnel. The growing complexity of their design made it clear that the pattern was the work of someone. The placement of the stones became more-and-more exact as the walls became less-and-less crystalline, creating the sense that they were approaching something. Then, as though crossing some invisible threshold, they could hear the rush of flowing water.

  Another wave of fresh air met them as they walked toward the sound of sloshing rapids. The little stone globes ahead were smaller and more-densely packed together. At their most intricate, the path forked. To their left, the fragmented crystal tunnel continued, and to the right there was a short, straight, and narrower passage made entirely of stone with a quickly-moving underground river visible a way beyond the length of it.

  Pelted by gusts of air from above, the party looked up to see dozens of small holes sloping toward the tunnel they came from. There were more holes slanted toward the continuation of the tunnel and even a few aiming into the offshoot, right-most path. Fresh air shot forward from the holes and made a sound not unlike a chorus of people simultaneously exhaling.

  “Well, there’s our fresh air,” said Roth with a sigh. “Doesn’
t look like there’s likely to be a way out.”

  “We don’t know for sure,” said Dakkon, optimistically. “That amount of air has to come from a bigger passage above… probably.”

  “What do you guys think? The eerie stone passage or—” Mina stopped talking and pointed down the other side of the tunnel, though it wasn’t necessary. The sound—like wet, smacking lips—was loud enough that everyone had turned their heads. Jinx growled at the disturbance, but a calming hand placed on the wolf’s neck ensured he didn’t bark at the threat.

  Upon further examination, the continuation of the crystal tunnel was not only fragmented by little stones, but also by large patches of soil. They had gotten close enough to hear more shriekers without being alerted by their robust and foul odor. The small holes pointing down both tunnel paths breathed another fresh gust of air down each tunnel.

  Then, suddenly, they heard an unnerving sound. Much like the cry which had initially driven the shriekers away from them, the husky call was louder this time—it sounded much closer than before, but it seemed to come from all three paths at once.

  The group instinctively began to backtrack without the need to say a word to one another, but they all halted where they stood once the ground began to shake. They heard the wail of something solid being sheared by incredible force from the direction they were headed—down the path from where they had originally come.

  “No!” Cline cried out as the party broke into a dash. Sure enough, the boulder had moved forward to block their escape. “How! We even took precautions…”

  “Screw this hellhole!” yelled Melee. “I’ve never been trapped in my life and this pit has done it three times! Three! It’s ridiculous!”

  “Quiet down, Melee,” Mina said somewhat weakly. She seemed to be listening to the tunnel behind them.