SpeedRunner (Tower of Babel Book 1)

by Adam Elliott

  The platform swayed again as Shifty rolled to a crouch nearby and Celia joined him a moment after. Their arrival was anything but opportune, the sudden shifts throwing off his posture and costing him a sizable amount of HP in a missed block as the creature's oversized blade bit a long glowing line across his breastplate.

  Cayden returned the wound with a pair of his slashes, then shouted out a taunt a moment before Celia's first heal overtook him. Shifty's first few knives bit into the creature's flank, drawing its ire but not its aggro. The beast was focused on Cayden, and for the moment that was all that counted.

  They developed a steady rhythm. The rat creature would attack him, and he would retaliate with a handful of slashes followed by a taunt to keep its attention. Celia reversed the damage, or sped Cayden's healing, interspersing the occasional light damage spells to augment the barrage of knives that was peppering the creature from behind.

  Every so often it would break its routine, slamming Cayden's shield with a thin arm that carried a surprising amount of strength before beginning to whirl around the platform, its arms outstretched as it spun over and over, not even bothering to use the edged side of the huge hunk of metal in its attack. The technique was clumsy, and after its first two attempts, all three of them knew how to dodge it, whether it be by rushing out of its trajectory or ducking back near one of the chains it avoided with its swings.

  Shifty didn't even have to tell them when the first phase had ended. The rat had become so predictable that the simple act of it hopping back away from Cayden was enough to put them all back on their guards.

  “Here it comes.” Celia shouted out the obvious. All three of them moved towards the center of the platform as the rat stalked for one of the far edges, raised its weapon and struck.

  The platform lurched beneath them as the corner fell out. If they hadn't been prepared for it, Cayden was sure at least one of them would have fallen. He wondered, morbidly, just how many players had fallen for that little trick. And how many of them had an ability to avoid what came next.

  Cayden saw Celia chanting, and dashed forward to strike at the creature as it turned on them. “You have to let me pull the aggro again!” He cried angrily, punctuating the word with another taunt and a use of Southern Cross that ticked a percentage point off the boss' HP.

  “Sorry!” Celia replied after the system had relinquished control of her body back to her.

  “It's alright. I think we've go-” Cayden shouted in sudden alarm as a sting shot through his right shoulder.

  He'd been so focused on the things sword, the only weapon it had used to attack thus far, that he hadn't paid any attention to the bladed bones it called incisors.

  Damage isn't too bad. I'll just have to...just have... A wave of nausea worse than anything Cayden had ever felt washed over him, and it was all he could do to remain standing. A warning blinked in his display, calling for his attention.

  Rap Rat's Poison Fang hits You for 270 Physical. [Poison]

  "C-Celia. I-" Cayden stammered. He wasn't sure if there was a spell on her list that could do anything about the poison, nor was he sure of the overall effects or duration of the poison in his system. All he knew was that he felt like the ground was moving beneath him even more than usual. And that he badly wanted to throw up.

  Poison as a condition in Babel was a catch-all condition for hundreds of possible toxins and venoms, each with their peculiarities. One poison might deal damage over time, another might slow movement, while yet a third might lower abilities scores. Pulling up the icon would tell him more about the negatives of this particular poison, but at the moment he had bigger concerns.

  “...Run your course! Full Cycle!” Cayden only heard the last few words for Celia's incantation as he feebly absorbed an overhand swing from the boss, the force of it enough to drive him to his knees. Ending up there turned out to be a stroke of good luck, as nausea intensified a hundredfold the moment Celia completed her spell.

  Cayden heaved and retched, his whole body revolting against the sensation in waves of agony. Then, as quickly as it had overwhelmed him, the feeling was gone. He drew in a deep breath, cool air filling his body with vigor as he drew first to a knee, then fully back to his feet. None too soon from the way Shifty was shouting, the Carnivalist barely dodging blow after blow from the oversized dumpster diver as it sought to pen him in, driving him towards the far edge of the platform

  “Over here!” Cayden shouted, more at Shifty than the monster. The former took to the air after a shouted command, a series of flips and cartwheels carrying him over its head to land beside Cayden with enough force to send the whole platform reeling once again.

  The rat turned at Shifty's retreat, lumbering across the platform into the waiting embrace of Cayden's shield bash and taunt. Twice more he struck it, the third smash of his shield driving into the beast's teeth as they scythed down to try and poison him once again. Cayden was having none of that, even as he burned through TP at an alarming rate

  Each time it recovered the beast fixed him with its beady eyes and worked to force him towards the edge with its attacks. There was no cleverness to the tactic, just clumsy swipes from left to right to left, like a child trying to run a puck down the ice. And just like the child, the rat found its prey escaping again and again as Cayden slipped its attacks to lead it on a merry chase, all while Shifty continued to barrage it with damage.

  “It is going to-” Shifty started, interrupted by an agonizing screech from the beast's mouth as it once again retreated for the center of the stage. “Yeah. That.”

  “Nuke it. Fast as possible!” Celia shouted, unable to conceal a soft giggle that escaped her lips before she began to incant her most powerful damage spell.

  Despite his low TP, the third phase was by far the easiest. It was little more than a DPS and resource test, a check to make sure they hadn't blown all of their resources to scrape this far through the fight.

  One of Shifty's daggers struck the final blow, inches of steel sinking into the creature's neck for a critical hit that turned its eyes glassy. It's skin began to darken, the first hints of ash just starting to flutter out of the wound when Cayden lashed out with a yell of disgust and a kick to the abdomen that sent the monster tumbling off the edge of the platform.

  The three of them stood in silence for several long seconds, the cacophony of battle replaced by the sound of heavy breathing and the dull thud of the rat impacting the floor below.

  “Uh, you realize we're going to have to go back down there to get the loot, right?”

  Cayden whirled on Shifty, fingers white-knuckled around his blade as he advanced on the other man. Celia's slender fingers curled around his wrist, bringing enough calm back to his frazzled mind that it was his voice, rather than his sword, that he raised in anger. “It had a poison attack! You didn't think that was worth mentioning?!”

  "It has never done that before!" Shifty retorted. He was indignant, the color of his ire rising to his face, but there was surprise and a little bit of fear there as well as he faced off against his companion. “I've fought that rat probably forty times. It doesn't have a bite attack, let alone a poison attack.”

  “Do you need to see the combat log?” Cayden spat.

  "Look, I'm not arguing that it did this time! It just never has before." Shifty stammered the words, a hand surreptitiously reaching for one of his knives. "Maybe it has different tactics for three; maybe someone triggered a change in it somehow. Hell, I don't know!"

  Cayden's nostrils flared, his wrist pulled from Celia's grasp as he faced Shifty down. If the other man had been trying to kill him, this was the stupidest way he could have imagined. He might have just forgotten. Or he might be right. Maybe it was the party members, or their reputation, or the phase of the damn moons.

  “We'll have to be more careful going forward I guess.” Cayden said, at last, returning his blade to the sheath at his hip before offering his hand to Shifty. “Thank you for keeping it busy. And Celia, thank you for
your quick thinking.”

  "My pleasure." She said with a relieved sigh. "Sorry, it was so rough. It's a cheap cleanse, but it can suck to experience all the effects in two seconds rather than having them spaced out over a minute or two."

  "Better than the alternative I guess." Cayden agreed before walking to the edge of the platform, looking down to the spreading remains of the boss. "I don't suppose either of you wants to walk d-"

  “Nope.”

  "No way. You did it; you're getting it."

  Cayden sighed, looked down one last time, then jumped.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The loot dropped by the oversized Rat proved to be a mixture of the useful, the useless, and the ridiculous.

  Unlike most modern MMORPGs, Babel didn't have a variety of loot tables that could be tailored to individual players and parties to make sure they got something they could use. Instead, each boss appeared to have their own unique pool of possible items. Some items appeared to be weighted more highly than others, and Cayden knew from his research that taking certain actions in a boss fight, such as disarming the creature, could increase the chances of certain items dropping after a battle.

  Apart from that, it was a crap shoot. Sometimes you killed a plate mail-clad warrior knight, and he dropped three pieces of cloth armor. Sometimes you bested the mighty dragon, and it had two human-sized rings, an amulet, and a fancy new hat. It was a system that had driven more than one player to frustration as they beat their heads over and over against a boss that just refused to drop his +12 Sword of Badassitude.

  Rap Rat, by contrast, had given them an abundance of swords. The rodent's blade was there, a two-handed hunk of jagged metal and tetanus that Cayden pushed out of his mind as he focused on the other two.

  Gunthang the Bleeder [Rare]

  The last work of a dying swordsmith, Gunthang was imbued with his hatred of life. It will wound your enemies greatly, but it exacts a heavy cost.

  One-Hand Damage 80-130

  Required Level: 4

  Required Strength: 16

  Required Dexterity: 14

  Durability: 25/25

  Bleed on Hit – 5 HP/Second for ten seconds

  Vitality -2

  Mage Blade

  A Mage Blade of the Elsmere style. It imparts powerful magical benefits to the initiated.

  One-Hand Damage: 50-70

  One-Hand Damage (Spellcaster): 70-110

  Required Level: 4

  Required Strength: 4

  Required Dexterity: 10

  Durability: 22/22

  Energy +5

  Empower (1) Once/Day

  Special: This weapon has increased damage for anyone with a level in a spellcasting class.

  “About damn time." Cayden said with a smile, scooping the blade up with one hand while navigating his menu to make his ownership of it official. Neither of his party members was going to contest his ownership of Gunthang, even if it was a rare. Sure it cost him a little vitality, not a great idea for a tank, but it also nearly doubled his damage. It was worth far more to him than whatever money the group might get from selling it at auction.

  The Mage Blade, on the other hand, was an enigma. Celia might want it, but he doubted it. Empower was an incredible skill for mages whose spells had direct, quantifiable effects. A lighting spell that did 100 damage would deal 150 when empowered, but a spell that removed all damage would still just remove all damage. Quicken Incantation was much more useful for her.

  Pity she can't just go all Gandalf with sword and staff. Cayden thought, only to laugh at the mental image of Celia shouting at a Balrog with a weapon in each of her hands.

  The final item had been exciting at first, but its value had diminished to all but zero after a quick inspection.

  Lucky Rat's Foot

  This foot and a half long Rat's foot is known to bring good luck to whoever holds it.

  Required Level: 4

  Required Strength: N/A

  Required Dexterity: N/A

  Special: Local legend says that the foot of an enormous, mutated Ratman can bring tremendous luck.

  Despite its 'humorous' description, the gray coloring of the item told Cayden all he needed to know. There was no luck stat in Babel, and gray items were, almost universally, vendor trash. It was possible the item might have some use in a quest chain, or that there could be some Elan who might give considerable rewards for obtaining it, but carrying the thing around for days or weeks in the hope of running into someone or somewhere that could use it was nowhere near the top of his list.

  Cayden scooped up the three remaining items, depositing them into his inventory as he made for the stairs. By the time he reached the top of the stairs, his party members would likely have come to the same conclusion on the loot distribution he had. A new sword for Cayden, and action house goods for when they next reached town. Frustrating, but every Zeni counted.

  “Enjoy your walk?" Shifty crowed from above as Cayden climbed the of the circular steps. After the rat's defeat, his companions had leaped from the far side of the platform onto a newly descended ramp that led upwards, further into the facility. They loitered there, Celia immersed in her AR display, while Shifty busied himself with a whetstone. Sharpening his weapons like that was a blacksmith skill, one that would give Shifty a minor damage boost for the first few daggers he threw in the upcoming combat.

  “About as much as anyone enjoys power walking stairs.” Came Cayden's reply, the young man bracing himself for the jump onto the unstable platform. It swayed uncomfortably beneath his feet as he landed, the back and forth reminding him of the rides his father used to take him on at the state fair. The dragon boat in particular. Nausea flared at that memory, but he fought it down, took hold of a chain and waited for the platform to steady itself once more before he took the final leap onto the ramp.

  “Glad to see you've been busy scouting up ahead.” He continued as he approached the pair.

  “Nothing to scout.” Came Shifty's reply. “The optional boss is about five hundred feet down that corridor. Other than him we have to walk about half a mile to get back into the sewer system before we are going to run into any more random mobs.

  The tone of irritation in Shifty's voice was hard to miss, even as mild as it was. Perhaps he'd pushed the party leader thing a bit too far. “Sorry, I keep forgetting that just because this is new to us doesn't mean it is new to you.” Cayden apologized before he turned his attention to Celia. “Any interest in the sword?”

  "None." Came a blunt reply, the girl still enamored with whatever she was looking at on her display.

  "Figured as much. I'll hold onto it for now." He nodded.

  “Don't go thinking that means you can make off with it just because it is a sword.” Celia grinned, waving away her display with a grand swooping gesture. “I'm hoping I can convince Silver it is worth swapping the empower bonus over to my staff once I've leveled up a bit.”

  “Wouldn't dream of it.”

  “Mhmm.” Came her skeptical response.

  “Shall we get moving?” Shifty asked.

  “Slave driver.” Celia said, sticking out her tongue.

  “I prefer taskmaster.”

  “I'm sure you do.” The girl smirked, turning her attention to the passageway ahead of them. “Do we have to go out of our way to find the optional boss?”

  “No. But you're not-”

  “No, no.” She shook her head. “I've had enough close calls already. But if we're passing by I figure, why not take a look. I've never seen a construct before.”

  Shifty seemed dubious, his eyes scanning Celia's for deceit before at last, he shrugged. "We have to walk right passed its boss room, so it isn't like I could stop you. But seriously though, no picking fights."

  “Cross my heart and hope to-”

  The rogue swatted at her fingers as she held them over her chest, his eyes narrowed in annoyance. “Really? Could you just not jinx us please?”

  Cayden and Celia exchanged bemu
sed looks as color crept into Shifty's cheeks.

  “Never would have pegged you for a superstitious sort.” Cayden grinned. “You sure you don't want the rat's foot?”

  Shifty eyed Cayden steadily, as though trying to stare him down. It failed, only widening Cayden's amusement until Shifty finally turned away to start down the tunnel, an obscene gesture tossed over his shoulder.

  Cayden followed after him, delving into the rough-hewn stone. The tunnel was small, a circular passageway barely four and a half feet in diameter. It was a tight enough fit for Shifty and Celia, but for Cayden himself, it was profoundly uncomfortable. He was forced into a stoop as he walked, his shield and blade stowed so as to keep them out of his way.

  Despite being a mere five hundred feet, the corridor felt like it went on forever, no doubt in part because of the sort of crab walk Cayden was forced to adopt part way as the already tight walls choked in even further. By the time they'd traveled halfway, it might have been easier and faster for Cayden to crawl, but he wasn't going to give the game, or the companions the satisfaction of seeing that on display.

  Light too was quickly becoming an issue. Up until that point, there had always been some natural or artificial source of light. The sewers had been lit by magical light globes spaced at even intervals, while the waterworks had a large number of torches and natural glow stones from its rock formations. The cavern ahead of them had neither.

  Fortunately, they did have Shifty.

  “Snap it in the middle and put it somewhere on your armor. Preferably somewhere that it won't fall out.” The veteran explorer instructed as he tossed a glowstick to both of his companions.

  The sound of three sharp cracks filled the corridor a moment before green chemical light bathed it in an unsettling glow. It made Cayden think of the night vision sections so popular with mediocre horror films, or worse yet, time spent camping in his youth, playing tag and getting the wits scared out of him by friends and family. The sooner they were out of the tunnel, the better.