But Callidus must not have been paying close enough attention. He’s pinned under the enormous boulder-hand.
I wonder why he's not screaming in pain before I notice that he's passed out. Even with the pain receptors dialed low for the game, being crushed by a boulder has got to drain most of his health. The instant the stone lifts we all spring into action. Both Balderdash13 and TexBadass cast healing spells on the kid at the same time, rescuing him from death. Erinocalypse gives a full blast of her Air spell, stronger than I've seen before. So strong, in fact, that the stone arm slams against the far wall of the cavern, barely missing SteelFeather and crumbling off more of the cooled lava from the joint.
Balderdash13 rushes to Callidus's side, pulling him out of the way and looking after him while he recovers. Our team has drained some of the monster's health but we still have a long way to go.
Erinocalypse and I alternate attacks. Her Magic level is much higher than mine, so her mana refills faster, her spells are stronger and she’s got a much more varied arsenal of spells to attack with.
I focus my attacks on the same patch of lava over and over. Some of the monster's moving crumbles it away, but my Earth arrow and SteelFeather's hammer do the rest. The monster has been alternating attacks with both hands, but I focus my arrows on just one of them.
Arrow after arrow, hit after hit, until I'm sure the joint is being held together with just a fraction of its original lava. I fire a Water arrow, cooling the molten rock, trapping the air bubbles inside as it solidifies, just before SteelFeather smashes his hammer against the brittle rock.
The boulder that formed the fist falls on the cliff near the tank while the creature’s arm comes away, unattached. It roars in anger and frustration, so loudly that I have to cover my ears. SteelFeather, who is even closer to the creature, visibly winces. All battle pauses for a beat as we assess this new development.
Luckily for us, the rock monster can't really change his method of attack. It still only has a limited range of motion and needs to attack us where we are on the cliff. Since the cliff keeps us at its chest level, the creature only has so many options to crush us. I resume firing my Water arrows and Erinocalypse resumes her Air casting as we continue to wear this boss down. I focus on its other wrist joint. Taking away the creature's fists should take away the bulk of its damage-inflicting capability.
Aim. Fire.
I imagine I can hear a faint sizzling over the din of battle when my Water arrows hit the molten rock. Every fourth or fifth arrow I switch to Earth, so I can break it apart even further, but as my Magic level isn't very high, it takes a while.
SteelFeather successfully smashes the boulder acting as a hand before I can completely dismantle the joint. The boulder breaks into several smaller, but still large, stones with just a hint of rock remaining embedded in the lava.
In losing his second limb, the rock monster lets out another roar, the rock-on-rock grinding sound makes me flinch. Its movements speed up and it smashes its arm down on the cliff, barely missing Callidus, but also breaking one of the boulders sitting there into smaller pieces.
“Watch out!” TexBadass shouts.
SteelFeather gets knocked against the side wall, and it looks like the wind is knocked out of him. The healer smoothly turns his attention to him and refills his health points.
In almost the same moment, the rock monster swings back the other way, swiping at all the members of our group with his stone arms. I can't think about attacking when I'm simply trying to get away. I barely manage to get my back up against the wall.
Erinocalypse, however, never falters. In fact, I wonder if she even realizes she should get out of the way. The boulder creature’s arm smashes along our platform and slams into the sorceress, knocking her to her knees.
As the rock arm passes her, I run to Erin’s side and help her to her feet. I notice her health reaches full just as she stands up fully upright, as though TexBadass refilling her health points has literally filled her up and strengthened her spine. We are arm in arm, on our way to safety, and then the wrecking ball returns, this time smashing into both of us.
My boots slip in the dust under the immense force of the boulder. Erinocalypse clutches my hand as she too is pushed along. I struggle to stay on my feet, moving with the stone rather than being crushed under it. We're too slow. I was relying on the creature's lethargy too much and hadn’t counted on its heightened aggression.
The rock monster sweeps his wide stone arm towards the edge of the pit, pulling Erinocalypse and me closer to him. My eyes widen as I realize what he’s doing. I have a small moment to wonder if we can roll sideways, to escape the pull, but I'm not fast enough. In seconds, the edge of the cliff is at our feet. I try to turn as we are pushed over the side, scrabbling for purchase on the lip before we fall into the pit. Without the Scaling Weed that gave me the advantage before, I'm useless.
I lose my hold on Erin and we both tumble into the darkness.
Chapter Thirty-One
As I blink my eyes open, I realize I have fallen only inches away from one of the gigantic boulders at the foot of the gargantuan rock creature.Willing every broken rib and bruised muscle into obedience, I gingerly roll away, getting as close to the wall of the crevice as I can.
I lie there for a minute, trying to figure out what my injuries are and how much potion I'll need to swallow if TexBadass can't get to me down here with his heals. The torch we threw down earlier has gone out—likely stamped out by our host—and I can barely see a few feet in front of me.
“Erin?” I call quietly.
I can’t hear much beyond the din from above, smashing stones and yelling. It sounds like there might be some small scuffling on the other side of the boulder I just rolled away from. I achingly get to my feet and limp a bit to the right, keeping my back as close to the wall as I can.
"Erin," I call again. I wish I had gotten a chance to learn a light spell. I can't see anything down here.
I gently bump into a small boulder and lean against it to take some of my weight off my injured legs.
Something moves in the dim light. Erinocalypse's golden cloak, maybe.
The foot-boulder still hasn't moved, so I cross the short distance to where I think she is. I don't dare touch the stone. Just in case. I lean forward and peer until I see her, still sitting on the ground, cradling one arm that looks like it might be broken.
“Oh, no, Erin. Are you okay? What can I do?” I fall to my knees at her side, pushing up her sleeve so I can get a better look.
She pulls away.
"Don't worry about it. Just use the healing spell."
I blink at her, completely taken aback. "What?"
"Bestow Relief. Remember? We learned it from the mayor. It won't heal all of me, right? You never leveled up? But it will heal some."
“Oh, yeah. Yeah, okay. Right.”
I shake my cloak back self-consciously, but the gesture leaps immediately to mind. I send a small boost of health to Erinocalypse and though it’s not much she immediately relaxes.
“Thanks. That helps.” She sighs.
“Can you get up?” I stand and offer my hand to help her up.
She shakes her head, almost imperceptibly, and slowly stands.
“Come over here,” I whisper, leading the way through the dark to the wall of the pit where we can huddle as safely as possible. “Want me to cast it again?”
She nods and I send another healing blast her way.
TexBadass: Y’all okay down there?
“Did you just get a message from Tex?”
She nods, still moving gingerly.
SirAsh3r: More or less. We’re alive
TexBadass: I can’t see you. I can’t heal you if I can’t see you.
Erinocalypse: We might be ok with food and potions and things. Worry about everyone up there for now.
TexBadass: Alright. But you let me know the second you decide you can’t do it on your own.
We don’t have time to reply befor
e the rock creature begins to move its feet, shuffling a bit to one side. It’s slow, but it’s heavy. If we weren’t already pressed against the wall we might have gotten crushed.
I don’t realize I’ve stopped breathing until the stone stops moving and I release the air.
“What are we going to do?” I whisper.
“First we need to keep healing. My Bestow Relief is still at level one, too, but it’s either that or go through all of our food and potions.”
“I vote spell. Even if it takes longer.”
“Good. Me too.”
She casts the spell on me and I feel a very brief flash of coolness. At the level I am now, the health refilled isn’t much. I cast the same spell on her and we trade back and forth for several long minutes, restoring each other to full health little by little.
In between casting, I try to bring up strategy again, keeping my voice low.
“So, how should we do this?”
“Do what?”
I gesture vaguely. “All of this. We don’t know much about what everyone else is doing up there. We still need to kill this dude and get out of this pit.”
I can’t read her expression in the dark as she stays quiet. Either she’s silent because she’s thinking or she’s silent because she’s trying not to call me an idiot. Above us, SteelFeather shouts while stone limbs continue to try to smash the party.
“Why on earth would we need to do anything different?”
Okay, the latter. Good to know.
“Well, I just …” I sputter.
“No, really. Explain it to me. You always have the new and brilliant ideas. How are you going to get us out of this one, SirAsh3r?”
I don’t know how to respond. Her sarcasm stings, but now that I think about it she’s probably right. It might not be some new and different brilliant unique strategy, but taking the stone creature down from below is certainly effective.
“You’re right.”
“Excuse me?”
"You're right. It was a dumb question." I think she's glaring at me so I change the subject. "Your health almost full, right? I think I'll be good with one more boost."
She nods briskly. "One more is probably enough for me too."
I aim Bestow Relief haphazardly, but it has no problem affecting the woman standing three feet from me.
Attention: You have unlocked Bestow Relief Level 2
Description: Restores up to 7% total health; three second cool down
Reward: + 70 XP
God, I've been playing this long and just hit Level 2? Clearly I don't heal that often.
"So, um ..."
"So, you continue to wear down its joints. Once one knee is gone I think it will fall. And I'll continue to slow it with my Surge of Air spell. Got it?"
I nod. I can't see a thing from this angle though, so I shuffle away from Erinocalypse into the dark corner. I feel good here. Safe. Covered from two sides by sheer rock walls. It should be—should be—difficult for me to get hit by a giant boulder from here.
I reequip my bow and resume my attacks, cooling the lava, aiding its crumbling and wearing the right knee joint away.
"Are we sure this is a good idea?" I call to Erinocalypse. "It could fall and crush us."
"What else are we supposed to do?"
I nock an Earth arrow and it blasts the monstrous stone leg hard enough to knock it slightly off balance. I suck in a breath and hold it as if somehow me not moving will keep it from moving. But Erinocalypse uses her meticulously aimed Surge of Air to stabilize its balance.
"Erin, if it starts to fall toward you, run this way. You can outrun it. Don't put yourself in danger by trying to fix it."
She ignores me. I'm sure she heard me.
My next several Water arrows erode the lava even more, until I'm sure that any movement will be the creature’s last. A large piece of rock falls to the crevice floor, accompanied by a light dusting.
The creature attempts to shuffle to one side, but the joint can no longer hold the immense weight of all the boulders above. As it attempts the step, the knee buckles and the full weight of all the boulders above comes crashing down.
It all happens too fast. I don't have time to see where Erinocalypse is running to or even to warn her. The best I can do is press myself into the corner and pray that I'm far enough out of the way that the falling stones and debris won’t hurt me too much.
Above me, above the thundering crash of all the rock, I hear TexBadass let out a wild "Whoop!" of delight.
More limbs and the monster's head cracks apart as one boulder after another hits the ravine floor, crashing against each other.
I still have my eyes closed against the settling dust when I learn that we have defeated it and accept the new save point.
Congratulations! You have defeated Master Biolith, the third of four minibosses in White Rock Ravine!
Reward: 5 Gold Pieces, Amulet of Minerals, Recipe for Potion of Supreme Speed
This cavern is your new save point.
Accept?
Name: Amulet of Minerals
Description: 5% Resistance to Earth Damage
Recipe: Potion of Supreme Speed
Description: When imbibed, the Potion of Supreme Speed increases walking, running and riding speeds by 50%.
Equipping the amulet, I save the coin and recipe to my inventory. Eventually I'll have to decide if I want to pursue any professions like potion making, but for now I just save it.
Three elements down, one to go in the dungeon. We are so close to the end.
Chapter Thirty-Two
"Y'all comin' up?" TexBadass shouts from above.
Down in the dim light of the chasm, I can’t see Erinocalypse around the fallen, broken boulders. They are piled up all around us, the corpse of a rock creature that nearly killed us.
"Yep. Here we come,” I call back.
I leave the safety of my corner to seek out Erinocalypse. The dust has settled and we're going to need to find a way back up to our party.
"Erin?"
I don't see her, but I am literally climbing over stones and boulders to traverse the space, so she could be underneath or behind any corner. I finally reach her, almost to the farthest end of the crevice, where she stands in her golden sorceress robe on top of one of the smaller stone pieces.
"Can we climb up here?"
She shakes her head, still looking up at the rock face in front of her.
"I don't think so. I don't see an easy way up yet. Not that any climbing is easy in this." She shakes at the fabric draped around her.
"You'd think the game could have done us a favor and made the rocks fall in a stair formation."
She smiles at my weak joke, but it's not even worth a comment.
"You keep looking here. I'll scout the other side of this pit."
As I walk away, she jumps down off her stone, hitches her robe up with one hand and scales a bigger boulder. It's still really dark down here, so I end up searching for a path to the top mostly with my hands. Anywhere the surface doesn't seem purely vertical is worth a try.
"How's it going, guys?" Balderdash13 calls down hopefully.
"We're working on it. The dude didn't leave us any ladders or anything."
I wish I still had some of the Scaling Weed that helped me climb up the defensive wall of Lord Crimson’s manor, but I used the last of it in my escape. I manage to find a few stones that landed at exactly the right angle and climb up partway, but even at the highest point I'm still a good twenty feet short of the top.
Finally, I give up and go check on Erinocalypse again. I find her balancing precariously between the wall of the pit and one of the boulders, climbing with her fingertips as she scrambles to find the next grip.
I watch, silently. I don't want to scare or distract her. After a moment, she's frustrated and gives up, letting go of her hold and stumbling down a few feet to the rock below.
"What," she demands when she sees me staring at her.
"Yeah, I don
't know how we’re going to do this. You don't have a levitation spell or something?"
"No. Nothing like that." She rubs her hands on her cloak.
"What about ... Do you think you could push me to the top using Surge of Air?”
She shrugs. "I can try. But then once you're at the top you have to figure out how to get me up."
“Of course.” I nod, steeling myself for what I assume will be an over-powering blast of wind.
“Switch places with me. You need to be higher than me if I’m going to be able to push you up.”
After a quick scramble, I’m standing on the boulder above and Erinocalypse is on the pit floor, preparing to aim her power directly up at me.
“Ready?”
I nod.
At first I'm not sure if what I'm feeling is actually the spell. Maybe I'm just losing my balance. But then it gets stronger, more focused, more steady. I lightly hold my hand against the rock wall in an attempt to guide my ascent, but since there's not really anything to hold on to, it might not help.
Erinocalypse manages to lift me about three feet up into the air before the effort is too much for her. The pressure I felt from her spell dissipates. I drop back down abruptly, stumble to my knees, and lose my balance in the impact.
[- 270 HP]
Ow. Five percent of my health gone. I rub my knee, but keep my comment to myself. The hit, however, gives me an idea.
"Thanks for trying. Sorry I'm not lighter."
Erinocalypse pushes her hair out of her face and sits on a nearby stone. “Damn it. I should be able to do this. Getting enough air to lift you is more draining that I thought.”
I don’t know how to respond. “Sorry?”
“Stop.” She stands again, shoulders back. “I don’t need your pity.”
I look up at the lip of the crevice and see four faces staring down at us. The others have long ago finished their healing and looting and are now just waiting for us.
"How are we supposed to get out of here?" Erinocalypse says with a sigh.
"Well ..." The hit to my health points has made me think of it. "I have an idea, but it's not going to be fun and I'm not even sure it will work."
Depths of Camlan Page 13
