“Good luck, man,” SteelFeather says.
I try to make light of it. “You all are acting like I’m risking my life,” I say with a grin. “The worst that will happen is I’ll respawn back in that blood worm’s chamber in half an hour.”
“Oh, yeah. After you drown. No big deal,” Erinocalypse says sarcastically. “Be careful, Asher.”
I throw myself into the pool, swimming to the rock wall at the end of the ravine. The water is cool, but not too cold and I’m grateful I don’t have to worry about expending too much energy keeping my body temperature up. At the rock wall I tread water and feel below the surface to see if I can identify how deep I need to dive.
My fingers can’t find an edge, so I duck my head under the water and hesitatingly open my eyes. The floor of the pool is still six feet below my feet and the path through the rock seems to be just a narrow tunnel all the way at the bottom.
I feel a panic of claustrophobia just looking at it.
But, I keep having to remind myself, this is a game. The point is to be able to play. Even if the corrupted code is making changes to what was originally planned, it wouldn’t be making an unplayable game, would it?
I can do this.
That’s what I just keep telling myself. I can do this.
I return to the surface to suck in one last deep breath before I start through the tunnel. Tex or SteelFeather or someone shouts at me, but I’m not listening. I give them a thumbs up and concentrate on my breathing. I give myself a couple slow deep breaths to practice before the plunge.
Finally I decide I’ve been stalling long enough. One final deep breath, filling up my lungs, and a rapid dive to the bottom.
I’ve never been a great swimmer, but I can get by. Maybe it’s my water affinity or maybe it’s my increased Strength in the game, but this feels a little easier than I expect. Once I reach the mouth of the tunnel I don’t hesitate at all but head straight into the darkness.
It’s the darkness that finally makes my panic kick in. On the ravine side, daylight filtered in from above, through the water, allowing me to see the pool’s bottom and the tunnel. Now, wherever I’m headed isn’t lit and it’s only getting darker.
Four feet in. Six feet in. I still have time, but I have to remind myself of that. I’m not at all religious but I find myself repeating, Please God. Please God over and over in my mind.
I swim through a few feet of pure pitch black before I realize the water is getting very slightly lighter. In three more feet, I can see my hands in front of me. Two feet beyond that my lungs start to burn at the effect of holding my breath, but I realize the tunnel has fallen away and the water around me is free of obstruction.
I look up tentatively, realize I’ve reached the other side of the rock wall and push myself up from the bottom of the pool. Is this side deeper than the other? Is that possible? Just when I wonder if I’m going to run out of air, my head breaches the surface.
I gasp; I cough; I rub the water from my eyes. That wasn’t impossible but it wasn’t easy. I immediately send the others a message.
SirAsh3r: Here. Just got to the other side. Be careful.
There’s a pause before anyone responds.
Erinocalypse: Okay. Here we come. Wish us luck.
There’s nothing I can do to help them hold their breath or swim faster, so I start to look around at the chamber I’ve found. The pool of water on this side of the rock wall is smaller and it only takes me a few strokes to reach the shore. I pull myself up and on to the rock, and take stock of my surroundings.
There’s a narrow set of stairs leading out of this cavern, and an unlit torch on the wall by the doorway. All along the walls and ceiling of the space is a kind of bioluminescent fungi. A literal glow-in-the-dark mold that is creeping up over every surface and making its way to the stairwell.
I stay seated on the rock, looking for other clues and drying off when Callidus breaks the surface of the pool.
“Hey.” I call him over.
"Whoa." He looks around. "Where are we?"
"I'm not sure, but it looks like we're going up again." I point to the stairs.
"Cool." He swims over to me, clambers out of the water, and wanders over to the stairs to take a closer look.
Since we found that cryptogram carved into the rock wall, I wonder if there's any message or hint hidden under the fungus lining the walls. I'm about to stand to go look when Balderdash13's head breaks the surface.
She's coughing more violently than either Callidus or I did and I wonder if she accidentally swallowed some water. But she recovers quickly and I lean over into the water to help her climb out.
"You okay?"
She nods, still coughing. I leave her to catch her breath again and join Callidus in his examination of the chamber. I step to the foot of the stairs and peer up. It's even darker above us and I hope Erinocalypse has some kind of light spell we can use. I listen carefully and hear a near-constant scurrying waiting in the darkness above.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I don’t even want to contemplate what that noise could be. But, and this is just a guess, I suspect we’re only halfway through the dungeon. Whatever is ahead of us will still be substantial. And, if my guess is right, it’ll somehow tied to the elements of earth or fire.
Behind me, someone else surfaces in the pool. I turn to see TexBadass swimming strongly to the edge. Only two of us left.
“Well, now isn’t this just a ray of sunshine,” he says, pulling himself out of the water. “And I thought that narrow ravine was dark and cramped.”
“Maybe don’t look at the stairs,” Callidus jokes.
“Aw, hell.”
Erinocalypse follows not far behind, and wastes no time pulling herself out of the water and casting Fire Bolt to light the torch hung on the wall. Now we’re only waiting on SteelFeather.
“Thank god,” TexBadass says loudly, his voice echoing in the chamber. “Although those new shadows are spooky as hell.”
The bioluminescent fungi dims in the torchlight. Erinocalypse leaves the new light where it is. It flickers, casting harsh shadows across the faces of anyone not turned directly toward the light.
“Feels like he should be here by now, doesn’t it?” I ask.
“He wanted to go last,” Erinocalypse responds. “I’m not sure why.”
Balderdash13 jumps back into the water.
“What are you doing?” Erinocalypse demands.
“He’s not a strong swimmer. He told me he never really learned properly.” She ducks her head under the water, but continues to tread near the surface.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I demand.
I jump in the pool after her and dive straight to the bottom, to the mouth of the tunnel. It’s too dark to see anything and not really possible to hear anything underwater. Keeping one hand on the mouth of the tunnel, I reach deep in, as far as I can, feeling for a hint of his presence or movement.
My fingertips brush over what feels like a smooth metal surface. I grasp again but it slips from me. I loosen my grip on the stone tunnel and try to reach farther, blindly hooking my fingers just under whatever this piece of armor is. I pull SteelFeather’s limp body toward me, out of the tunnel into the open water.
My breath is starting to run out and I can feel my heart beating faster at the effort. Luckily, I can still use the bottom of the pool as leverage. I put my hands on his sides, brace my feet on the floor and push his body ahead of me, up toward the surface, up to where Balderdash13 is till treading water and—god I hope—watching for us.
I swim to the surface, desperate for a fresh breath of air. As my head breaks the water, I look to make sure SteelFeather made it and I don’t need to go back down. TexBadass and Balderdash13 are pulling him out of the water, his health perilously low.
A casting from TexBadass brings the tank out of immediate danger, but he’s still barely conscious. I swim to the edge, but stay in the water, out of the way. Balderdash13 hovers over him, holding
his hand, calling his name.
“Hey, darlin’,” TexBadass says gently. “Why don’t you step back a little bit. I want to try something.”
She moves aside. TexBadass pours a bottle of lime green liquid into the tank’s mouth, a potion I haven’t seen in the game before. SteelFeather sits up, immediately alert. Balderdash13 throws her arms around his neck, relieved.
“What was that?” Erinocalypse asks.
TexBadass shrugs. “A revive potion. Not bad, right? I wasn’t totally sure how it would work; I think it restores up to ninety-nine percent health. I looted it from the Blood Worm.”
I nod, impressed, wondering if he has more.
“SteelFeather,” Erinocalypse begins, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Let us know when you’re ready to go. Take your time.”
“Is anyone hungry? Anyone else need a little boost?” TexBadass rummages in his inventory and pulls out a few loaves of bread. “Y’all need to be sure. We got the time now.”
“I’m ready,” SteelFeather insists, jumping to his feet. “I’m ready. We don’t have to wait. Where are we going?”
He looks around the chamber for the first time.
“Are we underground?”
“Seems like it,” I answer. “But we’re heading up.”
Callidus is already at the foot of the stairs, leaning against the doorway. SteelFeather quickly falls into his usual position behind him.
“I’ll carry the torch,” Balderdash13 volunteers. “Unless … you don’t think we need to stay in the dark, do you?”
Everyone looks at Erinocalypse. It seems we may have finally decided who our group’s leader is. Not that I couldn’t take the lead, but I’d rather not fight about it.
“No, I think having light is better. We have no idea what’s waiting for us up there.”
Well, I have some idea … but I could be wrong.
As the group all starts up the stairs ahead of me, I take one last look around this chamber, wondering why it’s here, what it’s for and if there are any clues or messages we missed. My intention is to play so well that Toterra Online can’t help but be impressed. Jargonaut may have won the Camlan Challenge, but I can prove that I’m the better player.
Chapter Twenty-Five
As we slowly move up the winding stairwell, I lose sight of everyone except TexBadass, who is directly in front of me. There are pauses and whispers up ahead but I'm more or less useless all the way in the back. The stairwell is barely wider than Tex and I find myself imagining what a fully armored knight would look like trying to squeeze through here.
With nothing to do but wait for those ahead to keep moving, I look more closely at the space. Rather than the chalky white rock of the previous ravine, the stone this hallway is carved into is brown and much harder. There's no handrail of any kind, but it's easy to see where centuries of hands bracing their way up or down the stairs would have smoothed out the rock wall at about hip level.
Farther up, I notice something carved into the wall, but I have to wait to go up the few stairs to see it. It’s a small symbol of an upside down triangle with a line crossing the bottom point, but it’s almost rubbed off, very shallowly carved as if thousands of people passing by have touched this carving and worn it away.
I reach up and touch it too. Just in case.
Attention: You have discovered the mark of Earth. Aligning yourself with this element will aid you in your journey.
Reward +10% Earth affinity.
“Oh, damn.”
I have a split second to decide if I’m going to tell the others or keep it to myself. And then I remember how Callidus and SteelFeather and I came under the influence of the pollen and how we never would have gotten out of there without the others’ help.
“TexBadass. Hey, tell everyone to stop. Come back here.”
He looks at me, confused but doesn’t argue. He tells Erinocalypse who has already disappeared around the next turn. “Asher thinks he’s found something. Come back.”
The message is relayed in murmurs and low voices and TexBadass returns to me on the stairs.
“Touch that.”
“Come on, boy. You think I’m dumb or something?”
“No, really. I swear.”
I touch it myself again just to show him it’s not dangerous.
Attention: You have already received +10% Earth affinity.
“You’re not going to tell me?” He rolls his eyes. “Fine.”
He reaches up to touch the carved symbol and a moment later his eyes widen.
“Huh,” he says noncommittally. “Interesting.”
“What is it?” Erinocalypse says behind him.
I move down another couple steps to make room for everyone who needs to come down the hallway.
“Touch it,” TexBadass says. “It will increase your Earth affinity.”
“Really.” She touches it. “So … What does that mean?”
“Hell if I know,” TexBadass returns with a laugh.
“It can’t hurt though,” I volunteer. “I have a higher Water affinity and it has definitely helped me in the past. Since we’re literally underground, an Earth affinity has got to help, right?”
“Makes sense.”
TexBadass and Erinocalypse move farther down the stairs toward me, making room and explaining what to do to the others. When it’s Callidus’s turn, he doesn’t immediately return to the top of the stairs.
“I went a little ahead and found the next chamber,” he says with a whisper. “It seems empty, though. I have no idea what we’re up against.”
“If it follows the same pattern, it’s a mob of some kind,” I whisper back.
“How do you know that?” Balderdash13 asks.
“That’s what the others have been. I’ve been thinking about this. You all didn’t see the puzzle to open the door, but it required putting symbols of the four elements in a specific order. Air, water, earth, fire.
“Then we get in here and have to fight a mob of air creatures—birds. Then a puzzle or trap that came through the air at us. Then a big giant airborne boss, the wasp. Then the mob of eels, the puzzle to cross the water—”
“And the blood worm in shallow water,” Erinocalypse finishes. “So, if you’re right we’re entering the Earth section of the dungeon.”
“Right. And now, seeing this, I wonder if there were similar Air and Water symbols we could have touched at the start of those sections.”
“So,” Callidus says, “you’re telling me we’ll fight some earth creature mob, then some earth-related puzzle, a boss and then move on to fire creatures?”
I nod. “If the pattern holds, yes.”
“Let’s not think about what the fire creatures could be, huh?” TexBadass says. “One thing at a time.”
“Here we go,” Erinpcalypse says bringing us all back to the task at hand. “You all know what to do.”
We climb up the remaining steps to the first chamber and file in. As our footsteps echo through the space, the scurrying I heard earlier gets louder.
“Dios mío,” Balderdash13 whispers.
The single torch that she holds lights the small chamber, throwing harsh shadows all around. Rather than keeping our backs to the wall, as with the hawks at the beginning of the dungeon, we form a cluster in the middle of the room, backs all toward the center, facing out at the maze of small, burrowing holes in the rock surrounding us. The scurrying gets louder and is now accompanied by squeaking and screeching. I don't know how, but we seem to have angered whatever’s in the walls.
As if spurred on by some unseen signal, greasy, fat rats pour out of their nests. Callidus takes the torch from Balderdash13, holding the light as high as he can to illuminate the room, while still slashing out at his attackers with his dagger. We are immediately surrounded and there's no way for SteelFeather and Balderdash13 to effectively draw the attacks away from the rest of us. They flank TexBadass to protect our healer, but Erinocalypse, Callidus and I are on our own.
Rat upon
rat upon rat, falling over each other, climbing on top of one another in their efforts to get at us. Their beady black eyes fixate on me as they scurry their way down the wall and across the floor. Mottled fur and twitching noses create a carpet of attackers all around us. Wave after wave of rodents. With my bow and arrow I'm not able to kill them fast enough. In seconds they're at my feet and a couple even start clawing their way up my cloak.
What I wouldn’t give for a big sword or something like Balderdash13 has.
I stow my bow and arrow and hesitate, wondering what weapon would be best. Part of me wants to just start whacking at those things with my Club, but ultimately I decide the blade is better. I equip my dagger and start slashing. The few on my cloak fall to the ground. I swipe at the others near my feet and keep going.
[+ 129 XP]
[+ 34 XP]
[+ 39 XP]
[+ 33 XP]
My health dips below 50% just once but TexBadass manages his job well. I feel that familiar coolness spread through my limbs and am back to full health points.
Every once in a while I stop to kick the piles of carcasses away from me, out to the walls of the chamber. It’s immensely satisfying to send their bloated, furry bodies sailing across the room like a soccer ball.
Erinocalypse screams and five of us turn to help. A rat has climbed all the way up the back of her own cloak without anyone noticing. It reaches her hair and now seems to be digging its claws into her scalp. She screams again and her health points dip.
Callidus is there first, his hand-held dagger perfect for dispatching the rodent without hitting our sorceress. He stabs the rat clean through, skewers it, then gently pulls it out of Erinocalypse’s hair, disentangling the creature’s claws. She cringes, shivering in disgust. I’m almost tempted to do the same, but I have to dispatch the rats now at my feet.
[+ 29 XP]
[+ 40 XP]
[+ 37 XP]
[+ 33 XP]
The creatures have at least stopped appearing from the holes in the rock. There are still more than a hundred of them, swarming us, climbing over the bodies of their fallen brethren, shrieking at us. As Erinocalypse’s health is restored, she returns to the battle and finishes off the last of the mob. A final squeak in the corner is rewarded by a lightning-fast damage spell, silencing that rat forever.
Depths of Camlan Page 10
