Bastions

by Jeff Sproul

  They journeyed along, passing somewhat open areas from time to time.

  "Nothing here either," Riley commented. "Maybe a few other groups have been through here recently?"

  Laura sighed. "I hope not. If so, it might mean that other guilds have outposts out here too, and if they're killing the monster spawns in this area, then they might be close to us. We shouldn't keep that outpost running if we can't come here to farm when we want."

  "From how far we've walked so far, we've passed about six locations that bosses usually appear at," said Carla.

  "I'm sure we'll find something," said Chase, as the group continued onward through various mixes of terrain. They passed through an area that almost looked like a forest, but the 'trees' were jagged stone outcroppings that were mixed with orange and yellow crystals.

  "Pretty," Laura commented, as they hadn't visited the area up close before. Usually by now, they would've called it a day after a few boss fights in other areas.

  "They don't have any value, other than aesthetically," said Chase, as his cyberized eye peered around.

  "Wish I had something that would give me details about what I'm seeing," said Riley as he glanced over to Chase.

  "Yeah, it's pretty nice. I generally only use it when we're walking around. It's part of the internal modules I'm able to create in my head. At least, that's where it shows up when I look at my character," said Chase.

  "And here I thought you were only going to be good for your adorable spider bots," said Carla.

  "Adorable, right," Riley murmured.

  Carla glanced back to him with a smirk. "Oh, that's right. You've got some sort of arachnophobia, don't you?"

  "I don't think it's that bad," said Riley. "But…I do think it's gotten worse since we started hanging out with the hellions."

  "You sure got a lot of problems, Riley," said Carla.

  She still hadn't tried switching over to calling him Relinquisher. Just as he'd never bothered to call her 'Chromatic Lotus.'

  "Yeah, and one of them goes by the name Carla," Riley quipped back.

  Carla shot him a glare. "Rude," she huffed.

  Riley smirked.

  "Hold up," said Chase as he came to a stop.

  "What's up?" asked Laura, looking over to him. "We got a boss?"

  "No," said Chase. "But there's a cave up here. I don't remember it."

  "Well it's not like we've been this far, too often," said Laura.

  "Well, maybe you haven't, but I have," said Chase. "I'm usually the one who's out here for scouting purposes. I often send the bots around to scout really far ahead. And there's this tunnel up against that mountainside," he said, pointing ahead.

  By now, they'd exited the area with the jagged crystal trees and entered a more open area with tall pillars of stone reaching hundreds of feet into the sky, which obscured things in the distance with how numerous they were.

  "So it's a tunnel?" asked Riley, mildly curious. "Think it leads to a player base?"

  "If it does, I'm guessing that they're trying to keep it hidden, since it's using an illusion wall as well. But my powers let me see through it, due to my high stealth detection."

  "Well, if it's undefended, we should try and loot it, right?" asked Riley. "We don't have to destroy it, but we could at least see if it has any available resources to plunder."

  "Yeah, that would be the plan," said Laura. "We can check the tunnel out and see what it leads to. I doubt it's going to be a special boss, but if it's a player base, we can seize some loot. We might get really lucky and it could belong to whoever is hunting all our bosses. Might make them think twice about farming this zone."

  "Then let's do it," Carla spoke up. "Not like we're doing anything else. What's it been, a half hour? We should've started fighting something by now. So I'll settle for stealing loot."

  "Where's the tunnel at?" Laura asked, glancing over to Chase.

  "About a minute up ahead," he said, pointing again in the direction of where they were already going but a little more to the left side against the mountain. It was the same mountain their outpost was within, but much farther away.

  "Can you send your bot into the tunnel to scout it ahead of us?" Riley asked.

  "I can, yeah, but it's not able to stealth. It's going to get caught, since it clicks around pretty loudly in tunnels. I'll have us catch up to it and we can move along with it. It'll still detect things, but if it spooks anyone or anything, we'll be there and ready. We might be able to catch a monster, or a player."

  "So, let me just get this straight, are we attacking a player, if we see one?" Riley asked.

  "Only if they attack us first," said Laura. "We're not going to initiate a fight on someone we don't know. If they're part of a guild we're currently in conflict with, then yes, we will attack them, because that'll benefit us and the alliance. But if they're an unknown, then we'll leave them be."

  "So if we see someone and they hold their ground at their base and tell us to go away, we will?" Riley asked, trying to figure out what their standards were. They hadn't really come across a situation like this yet. At least not in Bastions, and not while under Sage's shadow.

  "I don't mind attacking them if they have stuff to loot," Carla murmured. "You know, just scare them off. Not kill them, just…rob them."

  "Hmm," Laura murmured. "First off, definitely no killing unless they're someone we're in conflict with. We are only going to rob someone if they're not home. I don't want people seeing us. So if we see someone, we converse with them to figure out what they're doing. If they attack us, we attack back. If they run, let them run. But if they're staying to fight to the death, we can kill them."

  "What if they're standing in our path, and we want to search the tunnel more?" asked Riley.

  "Then we try to walk past them, unless they physically stop us," said Laura. "They could be protecting non-base loot, or something. Which could be valuable to us. If it's actually their base and they're around, we'll leave them alone. Does that cover everything?"

  "I think so," said Chase.

  "All my questions are answered," said Riley.

  "Then that's our plan," said Laura.

  "Quick question," Carla spoke up. "If I feel threatened…and I happen to blow everything up before we start chatting, would that be…bad?"

  Laura glanced over to Carla with a raised brow. "Are you serious?"

  "Nevermind, forget it. I'll just play it by ear," Carla said with a smirk, peeking over to Laura as well.

  "Here we are," said Chase a few seconds later as he stopped walking all of a sudden.

  Riley glanced around. "So, I'm assuming you see a hole in the wall somewhere?" he asked.

  "Yep, it's right here, my bot is just inside," said Chase as he walked over and right through the illusory wall.

  Carla went in next, followed by Laura. Riley glanced around and was the last one in. He couldn't see, as somehow the illusion also blocked light from entering the tunnel. He flipped his goggles on, but not the stealth detection. He produced the orange tendril from his right arm and then produced four blue gems and planted them several inches into the wall so that they were as hidden as he could make them. He set them to proximity detonation, and spaced them out roughly ten feet from each other, going further into the tunnel. If anyone came in after them, it would buy them a little time, but it wouldn't collapse the tunnel on them.

  He rushed to catch up with the others.

  Laura's arm was outstretched to the right-most wall as she glanced back to him. "We lose you there?" she asked curiously.

  "Just placing some frost traps at the entrance," he said.

  "Good idea," said Laura.

  "Are you able to see in here?" Riley asked, noticing her outstretched arm.

  "Nope," she said with a soft laugh. "But your amber gel emits a slight glow, and Chase is quite prominent with those green veins he's got. If something happens, Chase will light up the area."

  "Not if I light it up first," said Carla. "But then again,
I can't really see either."

  "Well, here, this might help," said Riley as he created two yellow gems and tossed them over to Laura and Carla. They emitted a very faint glow, so they were at least able to catch them.

  "Riley, I realize you can see perfectly well with those goggles," said Laura. "But these gems—"

  "They don't glow for crap!" Carla beat Laura to the punch.

  "You have to squeeze them to crack them, then they light up more. Like glow sticks," Riley explained.

  Simultaneously, both women cracked the gems and a bright light emitted from them. It was like a bright flashlight in all directions.

  "Oh, well…that's better," Carla mused. "How do we turn them off?"

  "You…keep your hand tight around it, to make it more dull, or…I dunno, stick it in your pocket? They last for thirty minutes. They take barely any energy to make."

  "Useful," Laura commented as she waved hers around and tested it out by sticking it in her pocket and holding it in her fist.

  "How deep is this tunnel?" Carla asked.

  "You can see about as far as my spider can," said Chase. "Just so you know, it's just a camera. It can't scan like those drones at the base. It just sees through stealth, that's its thing."

  From the back, Riley could see a small spider bot with a camera on top of it. It was about a foot tall and had eight mechanical spider legs with a half-globe for a body. It skittered with sharp clicks against the stone floor, which were more audible than their voices.

  "This tunnel is going on for a while," Riley spoke up after a couple minutes of walking.

  "Sure does," Laura agreed.

  "Looks like a fork up ahead," said Chase, keeping his voice relatively quiet.

  The tunnel was roughly five or six feet wide, and about eight feet tall. As they approached the fork, the tunnel broke off in two diagonal angles.

  "We going to pick a direction?" Chase asked, glancing over his shoulder.

  Riley started making a few blue gems.

  "Let's go…to the right," said Carla.

  "Right it is," Laura agreed.

  Riley went and planted two blue gems spaced out a bit on the left tunnel, and then two more on the right. Then he hurried after the group, since they weren't waiting around for him.

  "Hmm, it's a little strange for an illusory wall to be that far from a command module, right?" said Laura. "We haven't seen anything yet. Is it using a tunnel system and an illusion wall to hide where it's at? I wonder if we've already been detected."

  "Yeah, it's likely," said Chase. "I can detect stealth, but if there's something actually in the wall itself, I'm not going to catch it."

  "So we could trigger a trap at any time," Riley pointed out.

  "Absolutely. It's like an adventure," Chase chuckled.

  "Sure, adventure," Riley groaned.

  After another minute of walking, a crumbling sound emanated from up ahead, as did a bit of orange and red light.

  Laura and Carla were quick to hide their lights in their fists as everyone looked to each other. The tunnel was curving up ahead, and the source of the light couldn't be seen, but the further they walked, the more they could hear the crumbling sound.

  "We need to see what's up there," Laura whispered to the other three, just loud enough to be heard over the distant sound.

  The group kept a small distance between each of them.

  Nobody said anything as they trekked further into the tunnel, getting ever closer to the source of sound and light.

  As they eased around another corner, Riley could see a figure in a black robe. At first, Riley thought it was someone wearing a cloak of concealment. But then he realized it was too long to be a cloak, and upon closer inspection, he could see that the player had long and drooping sleeves. An orangish light emanated from the palms of the player. The entire wall was lit with a similar light, but more of a yellowish hue. That was where the crumbling was coming from. The wall was being torn away, turning into dust and being vaporized. It was hard to determine, but the player seemed to be forming the tunnel.

  Chase was the closest one, and now roughly thirty feet from the player. He glanced back to Laura. The light from the tunneling player was bathing all of them in a substantial amount of light, so they could easily see each other.

  Laura shrugged and then tapped her lips. She slowly walked ahead, and Chase pointed to his own eyes and shook his head.

  From what Riley could tell, Laura wanted to talk to the player, while Chase was saying that there wasn't anything stealthed. At least, that's what he gathered. He could be totally wrong.

  "Hey! What're you up to?" Laura called out.

  The person whipped around to look at them. The glow from their hands dissipated as they backed up against the wall they'd just been vaporizing.

  Riley could still see clearly, even if Laura and Carla were somewhat left in the dark, save for the subtle light from their hands. Laura quickly opened her hand to shine light on them all, revealing the party of four to the lone robe-wearing player.

  Riley could already make out some of the figure's features. It was a woman with frosty blue hair. He couldn't make much else out, as her entire body was covered in robes. But he could see that her eyes were wide and alert.

  "We just wanted to talk and see what you were up to in here. We were curious. We're not going to attack you," said Laura, holding her hands up, as if to show that they meant her no harm.

  The figure's hands moved quickly; it was as if the woman had memorized the motions as her hands moved in a flurry of gestures before glowing a golden yellow.

  "What's she doing?" Carla asked, lifting her hands up, as if she was about to launch a flurry of lotuses.

  After two more seconds of gestures from the robed figure, a golden light shimmered over her form, encompassing it before suddenly shrinking and then dissolving in a burst of glimmering gold particles. Then, she was gone.

  "She teleported away?" Riley was the first to speak, even as all four of them were watching the spot that the woman had just been.

  "I guess so. She was probably afraid of us," said Laura. "I guess I would've bailed if four players cornered me in a tunnel."

  "Same," said Chase. "We might've been better off if only one of us approached her. We might've gotten at least a word from her before she fled."

  "What was she doing with her hands?" Carla asked. "I've never seen anyone use so many gestures for their powers. It was a bit excessive."

  Riley's brows lifted. "I wonder if that was a mage?" he said as he quirked his lips to the side in thought. "You know, one of the mages from that other game. I think they use gestures like that. I pulled up a couple in-game videos of it online last night before I went to bed. They use their hands to cast spells, just like that."

  "You sure?" Laura asked.

  "Pretty sure. I think that was one of the players from Mage World Online. I guess one of them already found their way all the way out here? Interesting," he mused.

  "Probably just making herself a home, and we spooked her," Carla laughed. "Oh well. We should totally check the other tunnel."

  Laura hummed to herself a moment. "Well, she already saw our faces, even for a split second. We can definitely check it out, but I'm not sure if we should go and steal anything if we find something."

  "No harm in looking," said Carla.

  "Alright, we're turning around," said Chase as he turned with his bot and headed to the back of the group, walking past Riley.

  Riley waited a few seconds, letting the group pass him by so he could be at the back again. "So she didn't stealth, right Chase?" Riley asked. "When she did that flash thing?"

  "Nope, didn't see her there after she did it," said Chase. "So she either has a really high stealth strength, or she really did teleport away. If her stealth is that high, I think it's safe to just leave her be for now anyway, right?"

  "Makes sense to me," said Laura. "Let's just see what the other tunnel offers."

  The group made their way back an
d reached the fork. They turned to the right and took the other tunnel.

  Riley checked the gems he'd planted into the walls and saw that they were still intact, which meant that nobody had walked by them. They wouldn't take any damage if the frost trap went off, but they'd definitely get frozen for a number of seconds, depending on their resistances. Also, it was a good way of knowing if anyone else was walking around the tunnels.

  Riley didn't want to go and use up a huge amount of energy just to place a trap every ten feet of tunnel. For now, he was just happy knowing that nothing had come in after them yet. Well, unless it was something that could stealth. There was always that. But he was very thankful that Chase was around. Chase had really pumped up his stealth detection in the last few weeks, which was proving incredibly useful with the Bastions expansion and all the new PVP elements going on. It was also going to prove very useful with Golem, if they ever saw it again.

  They continued to walk, going farther and farther into the tunnel. After a couple minutes of walking, it became apparent that the tunnel was deeper than the other one had been.

  "You think we caught her as she was trying to make a really intricate tunnel network?" Carla asked.

  "I'm sure we'll find out soon, if the tunnel forks again," said Chase.

  They walked along and soon enough, the tunnel opened up into a cavernous room which was hard to see into, due to their light sources.

  Even with his goggles, Riley couldn't see into the room too well, due to being at the back of the group. The room was rather wide and tall, since he couldn't make out any walls yet.

  Chase's spider bot was clicking along, its feet echoing into the dark but expansive room up ahead. But even as they were about twenty feet from the opening, the sharp clicks of the spider bot's legs suddenly became dull squicks.

  Before Chase could register the difference in sound, his own foot made a wet smack on the floor. He stopped and looked down at the ground.

  Beneath his feet there was a dark, oily substance that had the viscosity of something between goo and liquid.

  "Guys, I found…black…goo?" Chase murmured as he looked down, then slowly up.