by Sarah Lin
The boxes had been white instead of blue, but perhaps they were close enough that he could access them as a player? Bloodwraith did his best to stretch out his will and try to control the tavern itself. Nothing happened. He threw his mind against it harder and didn't feel anything that might give. Next he tried a different angle, thinking about how the symbol had slid along the line... he needed to alter the same thing...
Still nothing. But then he felt a hand touch his.
Meara stood next to him, her gaze blank. Yet she seemed to be trying to move his hand. When Bloodwraith moved with her, he felt not just her hand, but her will guiding his. Together they reached out... and he touched a box.
Bloodwraith stared down at the white box in surprise. He wanted to grab at it, make sure that it couldn't disappear, but it remained floating in the air in front of him. He'd done it... they'd done it.
"Good thought searching for those." Meara took her hand away and gave him a weary smile. "I was trying to manipulate this place directly and it just wasn't working. But these boxes are designed to control it, I think. Can you handle them?"
"They appear to be written in comprehensible text, just like my boxes." Bloodwraith smiled at her and then focused on the controls. "All I need to do is read the text and figure out how the system works."
"I'll leave you to it. I need some time to rest."
Letting her go, Bloodwraith instead focused on the white box. This one contained several different symbols sliding along lines. The first one said simply "Background SFX Volume" - what in the hells did that mean? He reached out to touch the symbol and moved it as if it was a physical object. Thankfully, it immediately moved along with his finger as he jerked it right.
And they were suddenly surrounded by the sounds of a rowdy tavern at ear-splitting volume. Everyone winced and looked around as Bloodwraith hurriedly pushed it back to the center of the bar. The sounds subsided to a hum in the background.
"Where is that coming from?" Danniah asked, looking around. "The people didn't come back or anything."
Bloodwraith wasn't sure, but Meara let out a sharp laugh. "I get it. The fake people weren't making the sounds at all - these are just the generic sounds of a tavern as background noise. If you listen carefully, you can even hear some sounds repeat."
She seemed correct, but Bloodwraith had larger concerns. Below the "Volume" slider there was a second that was labeled as "Music" - when he moved it, an invisible band struck up a jaunty tune. Bloodwraith irritably moved both bars all the way to the left, silencing the room, and looked through the other options.
There didn't appear to be much, not even the options that Alan had used before. But as Bloodwraith looked away from the central controls, he figured out that a series of symbols along the top of the box actually opened several different boxes of options. From there he saw a massive number of different options, but all of them only controlled superficial aspects of the tavern.
A symbol that must have been a face appeared to control the inhabitants of the bar. When Bloodwraith moved the symbol, a few patrons popped into existence, a bartender making Izzy hop back in surprise. Curious, Bloodwraith moved the symbol all the way to the right and suddenly the bar was jam packed with the same set of generic customers.
"You really think that's going to help?" Gharavi shot him a glance.
"We may be able to use them to get out. In theory." Yet when Bloodwraith tried to get the attention of the customers nearest him, they ignored him as if he didn't exist. That wasn't surprising, since if the box gods could create entirely artificial people who were just as realistic as reality, they wouldn't need to manipulate real people. He slid the slider back to get rid of almost all the people so they wouldn't be annoying.
What could they do with access to so many fake people? His first thought was to begin ritually sacrificing them, but that ran into the same problem: if fake sacrifices would work, there was no need for such an elaborate system. So all the generic bar girls would stay for now.
Looking at the system more carefully, Bloodwraith saw that he could change the mix of inhabitants, such as turning them all into elves or dwarves. That seemed completely useless, so he ignored those parts. Yet when he was trying to push something else, his fingers touched the words "Tavern Wench" and to his surprise a new box opened up.
So there were further secret boxes? This one had new sliders, but they seemed to govern useless traits such as hair color. But since he had begun thinking about the potential for secrets, he decided to test. Bloodwraith moved through and dismissed most of the options quickly, but one of them puzzled him: instead of a trait it simply read "BWH" - what was that?
He moved the slider to the left and didn't notice anything changing... no, wait, there was a difference in the tavern girls' chests. Bloodwraith slid the symbol in the other direction and saw the identical women's breasts swell to ludicrous proportions, threatening to spill out of their bodices.
"Bloodwraith!" Danniah stared at him from across the room, her hands on her hips. "Just what are you doing?"
"Testing all the available options." Bloodwraith removed all the tavern wenches entirely, but it was too late - Meara was already snickering.
"It's good to see they focused on the important things." Meara leaned against the table next to Gharavi, smirking down at her. "What do you think, Gharavi? I think that pretty much justifies everything they've done to our world, don't you?"
"Clearly we need to destroy them all." Gharavi scowled down at her work and Bloodwraith was not sure whether or not she was joking.
In any case, he wouldn't let such trivialities distract him from his experimentation. He'd moved through nearly every available box, but there was one more that seemed very opaque to him. It used words that didn't make any sense and had fewer sliding symbols. When he tapped some of the buttons, he didn't see anything change. Just in case, he reverted all of them to their original status as he continued his experimentation.
Near the bottom, there was a very small button that said "Admin Tools". When Bloodwraith tapped it, to his surprise the white box cleared away to reveal only a single message.
[Access denied.]
He frowned, but his expression almost immediately gave way to a smile. If he was forbidden from accessing this part of the box, perhaps it contained the controls that actually mattered. They might not be as powerful as the tools Alan could use with his personal boxes, but they might be the edge he needed.
Touching the box again returned him to the previous screen. Bloodwraith tried a few more times, including with different combinations of the strange options marked, but each time it said only [Access denied.] He sat back, too satisfied by the breakthrough to be frustrated but not sure what to attempt next.
"This might be a weak point." Meara stood beside him, speaking quietly. "Do you think you can push through?"
"Well... I can think harder at the box, but I doubt it will do any good." Bloodwraith glanced up and gestured for Gharavi to come stand with them. "Gharavi, do you think you can use your magic against a small part of theirs?"
"I'm not sure," Gharavi said. She looked down at the box directly, indicating that she could see it just as he had been able to with Alan. "This mechanism is a bit delicate, but that could work against us too if the whole thing breaks."
"Make the attempt. This could be what we need."
Nodding, Gharavi hooked her staff in one elbow so that she could use both hands to work a spell. It was a simple modification of the one she used against other Outsider magic. Bloodwraith saw it connect to the box and it flickered... but that was all.
"It's not enough." Gharavi sighed and took a step back, but Meara was smiling.
"No, I think we can break through." Meara tried to touch the box, but her hand passed through. "Bloodwraith, try to access it again so that it says 'Access denied' and then leave it there. Gharavi, get out your staff and prepare to fire."
Since it was better than anything else they'd tried, they both moved to obey.
Bloodwraith backed away from the box and to his surprise it stayed where it floated. Meara raised her hands around it and the box began to flicker slightly, though the message of denial remained in the center of the box.
Meanwhile, Gharavi knelt down on the floor, pulled her staff to her shoulder, and sighted along it toward the box. She hesitated and glanced at Meara first. "Are you sure about this?"
"I'm sure it's worth a try. Give it everything you got."
Nodding, Gharavi took a deep breath and then fired. The beam of gray magic struck the box with an explosion of light that forced Bloodwraith to cover his eyes.
When he looked again, the box still hovered in the air... but it displayed text that he'd never seen before. The others had noticed when they'd attempted to fire on the box, so they crowded closer to look. Bloodwraith stared down at the box, reading over the various options.
Some of them referred to the tavern's connection to other space and its use of magic. One slider labeled "Total Energy Consumption" looked promising, but when he moved it left, the entire tavern started to tremble in a way that made him decidedly uncomfortable, so he moved it back. Playing around with these options might be dangerous, so best not to experiment wildly.
"What about that?" Meara pointed down to the bottom of the list, where there was a simple option:
[Enable dungeon access?
Y/N]
Currently the negative option was selected. What did that mean? Gaining access to a prison would do them no good at all. Unless the tavern itself was the dungeon - it did serve to restrict them, after all. It was possible that "enabling access" would mean opening the tavern, but it could also be some sort of mad box god logic.
Bloodwraith wasn't sure about changing the setting, but looking over the other options and then to his companions, he didn't see many choices. Taking a deep breath, he pressed the "Y" symbol.
A click sounded in the room, loud in the stillness.
Everyone looked around for a change, but there appeared to be nothing. Bloodwraith had hoped for a door, but there was nothing like that. Yet before he could grow frustrated, Izzy ran around the side of the bar. She let out a cry and rushed forward, bending down behind it.
Bloodwraith moved after her and saw what had prompted her reaction: a massive trapdoor had appeared where before there had been nothing but smooth floor. It had a large iron handle that Izzy tugged at, but she couldn't budge it. He moved after her and bent down to tug it upward.
It moved with a wrenching creak, but beneath it he could see a set of dark stairs. They led down into the darkness, but he could just see a stone floor at the bottom. When he bent down to look further, he saw a pair of mana torches, illuminating a hallway stretching out into nothingness.
"Well." Bloodwraith pulled back to his feet and turned to look at his gathered companions. "I believe this is our way out."
Chapter 10
Their group took some time to collect themselves and drink potions to restore lost mana, then they headed down the stairs. Danniah had the idea of breaking off part of the bar and using it to prop the trapdoor open, but there was no sign of a sudden trap locking them in. After several cautious ventures and checking for traps, they headed down into the first tunnel.
As soon as they fully entered, a box appeared in his vision.
[Welcome to the Testing Dungeon!
This vast dungeon spans three enormous floors, each featuring a dazzling array of mazes, puzzles, and monsters! Your journey begins on the Floor of the Wild and will advance through the Floor of Bone and perhaps even to the Floor of Mystery!
EDIT: Calm the fuck down, Greg. It's a glorified testing room.
WARNING: Please be aware that this isn't the tutorial dungeon - see the new Starting Forest for that (someone should get on improving that name, btw). There are no safeguards here and it operates under all local rules. I populated this one with real monsters for a more robust test of physics and magic, but this is in no way balanced for normal players. Don't waste copies messing around here or we'll revoke your access.]
Bloodwraith blinked, not having expected a message like that. It was clearly a personal message among the box gods, not meant to be read by normal players. That probably implied they weren't supposed to be here either, which meant they were moving forward. He had to consider that this might be another trap from Alan, but they didn't exactly have a lot of other options.
"You're seeing something?" Meara asked. He dismissed the box and nodded.
"There was a welcome message. But they're calling this place a 'dungeon' - it certainly doesn't look like it could serve as a functional prison to me. There would be no need for monsters or any such thing."
"Hmm... based on everything it says, I think they're using the term differently." Meara shrugged and tilted her head in the direction of the others. "You want to explain for everyone else?"
"Very well. According to the box, this is apparently a dangerous location the box gods used when twisting our world. We should advance cautiously."
"I feel like this place is... less of a prison than the tavern." Meara closed her eyes, growing still for a time before continuing. "That place was to hold us, but this 'dungeon' might be to slow us down. It's just a guess, but I wonder if the fastest way he could keep us from getting back to our world was to stick locations that already existed between us and the real world."
"In that case, we should push through this place swiftly and get back." In the time they were gone, all manner of things might change and at the very least they would lose track of their opponents. But since it wouldn't help or improve morale to say that, Bloodwraith kept his mouth shut and moved forward down the corridor.
They passed the first pair of mana torches and he could see another ahead, but they were far enough away that there was dark space in between them. But they'd already done this before, so all he had to do was glance to Meara. She pulled a torch from her cloak and kindled it from one of the mana torches, lighting the way and leaving the rest of them with their arms free.
Before they reached the second pair of torches, the walls of the tunnel expanded into a strangely shaped room, an irregular five-sided structure. Four different tunnels branched off from the chamber in random directions, leaving them with five ways forward. Clearly, this place was not going to be straightforward.
"Unless someone has an intuition about the correct path, we should do this methodically. First..." Bloodwraith trailed off as he heard a growl. It had a strange undercurrent that sent a chill up his spine, indicating a level of mana beyond a simple animal.
All of them turned toward the growl and spotted a beast prowling from one of the corridors. It was a wolf. Though its fur was pitch black and it had unusually large claws and teeth, in the end it was just another of the box gods' favorite monster. Still, Bloodwraith didn't want to make his usual overconfident mistakes, so he assumed that it was dangerous and gathered enough mana in his sword to Enrage an attack.
When the wolf charged at him predictably, he brought his greatsword down on its head with all his strength and mana behind it.
His blow dealt only a shallow cut and the wolf charged directly through it.
In an instant of flashing pain Bloodwraith found himself slamming back against the opposite wall. His sword had fallen from his hand and his other hung limply. When he tried to move on instinct, he felt only sharp pain - his arm was broken. The wolf barely paused to snarl before leaping at him.
Izzy leapt to attack its head, her knives flashing. Yet the wolf turned in midair and with a single swipe of its claws, it tore her in half. She collapsed in two pieces and the wolf lunged at her legs, savaging them. Though she couldn't feel pain, Izzy looked as shocked as Bloodwraith felt.
The conflict had taken so little time that the others had barely reacted. Danniah had only managed to raise her shield into position, while Gharavi was just now bringing her axe staff to bear. She unleashed a series of efficient spells in quick succession: a bolt of lightning, a shard of ice
, and a sphere of flame.
All of it dissipated except the lightning, which singed some of the wolf's fur. It growled angrily and turned on her, leaping with that horrible speed.
Danniah barely managed to put herself in its path, blocking the swiping claws with her shield. The wolf immediately struck a second time, but for once, it wasn't able to tear directly through someone. Though Danniah had no time to attack and was being forced to step back with each strike, she held the wolf for a brief time.
That was enough to rouse Bloodwraith from his shock. There was no time to drink a potion or worry about his broken arm, he simply needed to fight with his remaining hand. Again he poured all the mana he could into the blade to prepare for an attack. It would have been a good time for him to find some new ability or unlock the power the Savages Guild had described, but he felt nothing. All he had was his superior intelligence over the beast.
Lifting his sword into position, Bloodwraith advanced but didn't attack with it. Instead he jerked his knee up, using the movement to send a Fist of Rage out at the wolf. The burst of force dissipated off the wolf's hide, but it did turn away from the faltering Danniah to growl at him.
It lunged directly for his throat, but his sword came down first. This time he struck the beast directly on the side of the head, not attempting to kill but just using all his power to bludgeon it. In the air the beast couldn't brace itself and it was sent flying into the wall. Though it didn't appear particularly injured and soon leapt back to its feet, that was better than nothing.
Now that it was coming for him again, Bloodwraith couldn't react fast enough. He sent another burst of force at the beast's eyes, but the attack didn't even slow it down.
Fortunately, Gharavi had not been wasting the time they bought her.
