by R. A. Mejia
“Ice shoes. That’s what that guy was selling when he was calling out ‘Spikes’,” I said to myself as I struggled to get to my feet. I left the dungeon, pushing through the line of people trying to get in, and returned to the man selling ice shoes. They cost a silver and were actually more like an adjustable metal covering that went over your normal shoes. Like everything else I bought, I made sure to scan it and record the schematic. Then I sat on the ground and twisted the little knobs on the thing until it went over my feet. It took a little getting used to walking on the stone with the shoes, but it would be better than slipping on the ice all the time.
I returned to the line queue of people entering the dungeon and decided that Parker drew too much attention as people kept staring at him and pointing. An idea occurred to me, and I said to Parker, “Climb onto my back, but once you are there, hold onto me and stay still. You’ll be pretending to be a backpack, ok?”
The spider looked up at me and tilted his head, not understanding. I picked him up, and his legs wiggled in the air. I put him over my shoulder, and he naturally used his legs to stick to me, essentially standing up on my vertical back.
“No, lie down on my back,” I commanded, and Parker did so. “Now, wrap your legs around my back.” Parker's eight legs wrapped around my shoulder blade plates and under my arms and across the back of my rib plates, like the spider was giving me a great big hug. “Good. Now hold on while I test this.” I felt the legs tighten but not uncomfortably so. Then I jumped a few times and twisted left and right. I could feel Parker jostle at first, but he adjusted his grip and he stopped moving.
“Good job, Parker. We’ll call this Backpack Mode, ok?”
I felt the mechanical spider raise and lower the front leg near my right shoulder and took it as agreement. I returned to the queue of people and entered the dungeon without having to worry about someone stepping on Parker with their spiked shoes. After winding through the stone tunnels, we came back to the snowy dungeon field, and I followed the line of people through the snow. But as I looked around a flash of orange among all the white caught my attention. I looked left but didn’t see where the light had come from.
I stepped out of line and walked through the snow to a ridge that overlooked the dungeon and turned my gaze to the west. I almost thought I’d imagined seeing it until I caught yet another flash in the distance. It was hard to see through the snow coming down, but there were periodic flashes of light and flame off to the west, and most of the people in line seemed to be heading in that direction. I followed them, curious about what was happening and why all these people were there if the dungeon level was so empty. As I got closer to the source, wooden buildings began to appear out of the snow. They were built with tall, sharply-angled rooflines that let the falling snow slide right off of them without a big buildup. But more interesting was the buzz of activity amidst the buildings. People were moving everywhere. There was a huge stone hearth and a chimney that pulled the smoke into metal pipes that fed into the stone walls of the dungeon. It was a clever way to prevent smoke from such a large fire from killing everyone. Otherwise, the enclosed dungeon space would have been a smoky death trap. It was nearly ten feet wide and twenty feet tall, and there was a roaring fire blazing away. A line of people was feeding the fire logs of wood to keep it going, and I realized that it was the fire flaring up that I’d seen from a distance.
Another group of people felled nearby trees and chopped them up so that there was a supply of wood. In the middle of the hearth there was a cast iron pot that was bigger than me, and people were pouring baskets full of snow that they’d collected into.
I was confused as to why so many people were melting snow until the pot started to bubble, and a crew of four people tipped the cauldron over and poured the steaming water into a series of slides that took the water downhill toward more buildings. I followed the slides with my eyes and saw the water being guided to wooden troughs. When the water stopped flowing, the troughs were taken away and stored next to more of their like. I lost sight of the activity then as a large figure stepped into my view.
“You don’t belong here, golem. Return to your master.”
I looked up and saw one of the biggest creatures I’d seen yet. It was seven feet tall and five feet wide at the shoulders. He was covered head to foot in dark brown fur, and I thought for a moment that I’d found a talking grizzly bear. Then I looked closer and saw that there was just a hint of blue skin around its eyes and realized that I was talking to a troll wearing so much fur clothing that he was hardly recognizable. I took a step back and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that adventurers weren’t allowed in the dungeon.”
The troll’s eyes widened slightly, and he said, “I’d heard something about a talking golem that fancies itself an adventurer. I didn’t think it was true, though.” The troll growled as he took a step forward. “You are new, so I’ll explain things to you. Our company has an exclusive contract with the city and makes ice on this level of the dungeon. In agreement with the Adventurer’s Guild, we have the rights to this small corner of the dungeon level. Your guild is free to roam the rest of the dungeon and kill monsters to your heart's content as long as it doesn’t interfere with our business.”
“That’s quite the smart business model you have: using the dungeon’s resources to manufacture an item that can be used by everyone in the city. I’d wondered where all the ice in those drinks came from, but I just assumed that ice mages must be popular.”
“Well, now you know. So, scram,” the troll said while pointing away from the ice making buildings.
I shrugged and moved eastward with Parker on my back. My curiosity had been sated, so there wasn’t any reason to remain. I turned back to see the troll still watching me. Parker paused, turned back, and raised his front left spider leg up toward the watching troll. I wasn’t sure if it looked more like a gesture of goodbye or him flipping the bird, but the thought of either made me chuckle as I turned my back to the troll, sure I’d not see him again.
The snow stopped falling as Parker and I moved eastward, but the stuff had already built on the ground, forcing me to use my large feet to press down the snow. It was still a bit slippery even with my spiked feet, and I had to take it slow as I made my own path through the snow. I was glad that I’d gotten the ice shoes. Otherwise, I’d have had even more trouble finding traction as I walked.
With the crowds behind us, I commanded Parker to climb down. The mechanical spider was just light enough that he could walk on top of the snow without sinking down very far into it. I thought Parker would make a great scout if he could walk this freely and tried to get him to go ahead and look for tracks in the snow, but the spider didn’t understand what I was asking him to do. I figured he couldn’t understand how to scout or track an animal without the skill being downloaded into him with an upgrade. It was annoying that everything with the spider cost companion points, and I added the skill to my ever-growing mental list of ways I planned to improve my companion.
I slogged through the snow for over an hour with Parker merrily keeping pace until we came across our first set of tracks. There were two sets of tracks--and boy were they big. The larger set was six inches wide and fifteen inches long from heel to toe. They kind of looked like human feet, except for the gouges on each toe that I assumed were made by claws. The other set was always in front of the big ones, and while it was only half the length, they had a wide center imprint with five smaller toe impressions, each with a claw mark. While I wasn’t a tracking expert, I recognized that the tracks belonged to something big that likely walked on four legs.
I summoned my Flintlock Rifle from my internal inventory and held it tightly in my hands. I’d have to be careful if I was going to attempt to fight something that I suspected would be this big all by myself. Parker poked the bigger of the two tracks, and I wanted to smile as the sight reminded me that I wasn’t alone anymore. I had my new buddy Parker, and my thoughts immediately turned to how I could us
e him. He had the same armor class and almost the same HP as myself since I’d upgraded him, so I didn’t think he’d make a particularly good tank, but he could prove to be a good distraction.
We followed the trail we’d found, which wasn’t too hard since whatever had made it plowed through the snow with its body. The trail led north through a patch of evergreen trees to a stone cave. The area around the cave was void of other animal sounds, just the growls and shuffling noises of whatever was inside. The snow outside of the cave was well-packed, and there were splashes of red blood on the white snow showing that the dungeon monster brought its kills here to eat.
I kept my distance, not wanting to alert whatever was in the cave that I was there while I looked for a good place to attack from. I needed somewhere that would give me a clear line of sight free from visual obstructions like leaves with a path that was open so that I could get as many shots off as possible without losing my target behind trees. I found a tall grey leafless tree about eighty yards away with thick branches that I could reach and a clear view of the cave. I chose a spot between the tree and the cave that was free of tree roots and then got to work setting up traps.
I deconstructed while Parker broke up the cold ground with his shovel legs, and we dug a pit trap that I hoped was big enough to take down the monster in the cave. We covered it with thin strips of wood that I fabricated and then covered it all with snow until it looked like the surrounding ground. I deconstructed a small tree and used the wood to fabricate three crossbow traps that I showed Parker how to put up. The mechanical spider took the last trap and erected it so that it would go off as the monster exited the cave.
While Parker set the last trap, I climbed up a tree and felt the bark come away in my hands more easily than I thought it should. Regardless, I climbed up the trunk to a branch about seven feet up. The branch creaked and groaned and for a moment as I settled onto it, making me unsure of whether or not it would hold my weight, but the creaking stopped, so I guessed I was fine as long as I stayed near where the branch and the trunk of the tree met.
I checked my rifles. The pivot screw and springs were a little stiff from the cold but moving them repeatedly loosened them up. The barrel was clear of any powder build-up, and the sight was straight. I considered exactly how I’d get the monster out of the cave. I briefly considered just sending in Parker to draw the monster out, but I didn’t know if the mechanical spider was going to be fast enough to escape. I could assume that the monster was huge based on its large paw prints, but couldn’t guess what special abilities it might have. No, Parker would be better used another way.
Parker climbed up the tree with more ease than I had, and I gave him his instructions. It would be important that we coordinated well, and I made sure to give him clear instructions on what I wanted him to do. Parker listened and waved his front legs up and down in what looked like a nod to me when I finished, so I climbed down the tree to get into his assigned position. I just hoped that my instructions weren’t too complex for the mechanical spider.
As I watched Parker scurry across the snow, I turned my attention to my own part in the planned attack. I was going to make my own distractions and be the main damage dealer. I’d used my newly created Infused Ammunition to great effect in the dungeon and increased my damage output by thirty to forty percent when I infused my more powerful damage spell, but I was concerned that my 52 mana wouldn’t give me enough extra oomph in this fight. I knew that I would have to plan this out carefully and looked through my list of infusions and picked a combination of damage dealing and utility spells.
I was debating whether it would be better to use a few of the more expensive infusions or more of the cheaper ones when I heard a roar. I looked toward the sound and saw a monster outside the cave entrance pawing at a crossbow bolt in its side. I wasn’t wrong to assume that it walked on four legs, but had not guessed that it would also have an extra pair of arms and looked like some kind of bear centaur. It was bigger even than I’d imagined and was at least seven feet tall and covered in thick white fur. The top half of the monster reminded me of a Wampa, the creature in the ice cave from The Empire Strikes Back. It had long fur-covered arms, hands that were tipped with sharp nails, and a thick, tall body. The key difference was that its head looked more like a bear with a short snout and had black lips that covered sharp teeth.
It had triggered the crossbow trap that Parker had set up outside of its cave. I watched as it snapped the shaft of the crossbow bolt with five-inch claws on its main hands while the other four clawed legs pawed at the ground, digging furrows into the snow.
As the monster looked around for the source of the pain it felt, I used Inspect.
Yettaur
Level 7
HP 86/92
I shouldn’t have been surprised at its massive HP considering its size and level, but it meant that the fight might go on for longer than I’d planned. Still, there was no turning back now that it was actively looking for me and Parker. I had a choice of either attacking now or waiting for it to find me, and I liked my chances with it farther away. I held the Flintlock Rifle in my right hand while I fabricated the first infused ammunition and loaded it into the rifle. With the pan primed and ready, I put the butt of the rifle to my shoulder, sighted down the barrel, aimed at the center of the monster’s body, and pulled the trigger. I ignored the flash and loud explosion as the powder went off. The minié ball penetrated the monster fur and a blossom of red blood exploded from his chest. The monster roared, clutching at the golf-ball-sized wound in his chest.
The Yettaur pawed at the ground with its four legs and started to move towards the forest, which is what triggered Parker’s first instruction. He leapt from the tree above the cave entrance where he’d been hiding and landed on the Yettaur’s hindquarters, his Spider Climb ability letting him climb the monster with perfect balance, even as the monster spun to see what had attacked it. Parker’s instructions were clear, and he activated Stinger and Poison. The needle shot from Parker’s underside, penetrating the monster’s fur and injecting the Minor Poison that I’d fabricated. Parker let go of the Yettaur after injecting the poison and was flung off the bucking monster as it spun around in place, trying to claw at the pain radiating from its backside.
Having already fabricated new ammunition and reloaded while Parker attacked, I aimed and fired again. The monster staggered to the side as the bullet hit it in the flank. The second attack seemed to give the monster a renewed focus, and it stopped paying attention to Parker, turned toward where I was hidden in the forest, and charged toward me.
I yelled, “Thaumaturgy!” which activated the infusion I’d placed on Parker, and every sound the mechanical spider made was amplified tenfold, making each step sound like it was being made by a giant. As instructed, the spider jumped up and down, banging its legs against rocks and making as much noise as it could. But the Yettaur was not distracted like I’d hoped it would be. It continued its headlong charge toward me, moving faster than I’d thought possible. Within seconds, it was close enough that I could see a wild look in the bear-like monster’s eyes as it searched for the source of the attacks.
A normal flesh and blood person might have panicked at seeing this hulking monster charge toward it, but I did not have nerves or an adrenaline system as a Metalman. Instead of a chemical rush of fear, I felt driven by the danger approaching, like I was doing what I was meant to. I fabricated another round of infused ammunition and reloaded. I knew the next shot would fully give away my position, but I couldn’t waste the chance to knock down his health. I fired, and the sound of the gunpowder prompted the beast to turn toward me just as the round impacted the tree next to it, tearing out bark and sending splinters of wood towards the monster.
I’d not only missed, but now the Yettaur knew where I was. I called out, “Extended Air Blade! Firebolt! Minor Acid Globe!”
Each yell was the command word to activate the infused spells in the minié balls I’d fired into the monster. One by
one, the infusions activated. A whistle came from the monster’s chest as the Extended Air Blade cut through the beast from the inside, and a red mist shot from the monster’s chest wound along with a red ten that floated away. There was a pop, and a bit of smoke wafted from the monster’s side as Firebolt activated, burning the beast and doing five damage. The third infusion released a globe of acid, while it burned away at the tree the missed shot had embedded itself in, only a few drops landed on the monster.
The Yettaur growled angrily as the magic infusions hurt it, but the creatures seemed to shrug off the pain. It rose on its hind legs, giving it four arms to attack with and making it twelve feet tall, which was more than enough height to reach where I hid in the tree. Yet, even as part of my mind told me to run, my body remained calm. Keeping mind of the surprise that I had prepared, fabricated my next infused round and reloaded.
The Yettaur’s eyes locked on me, and it walked awkwardly on its hind legs with foam dripping from its sharp-toothed mouth as it bared its teeth at me and swiped with its four free paws. It was so focused on me in the tree it did not notice the crack beneath its feet as the thin wood hidden beneath the snow snapped, dropping into the pit trap that Parker and I had made. Snow flew up into the air obscuring my view as the beast fell into the trap, and I heard a howl of pain as it slammed into the sharpened spikes at the bottom.
