Hidden caverns, secret paths through the rock or maybe even climbing routes to the summit. What kind of monsters were up there? D and I had barely even scratched the surface of the world. Horngrins were basically all we knew so far. In any other game we would have raced off in every direction to explore, not worried if we died a few times. But this was no normal game. This was life and death.
Vayde was taking us towards what looked like another forest, but this one was different. The trees were tall and thick, like redwoods, with thick vines that hung down from the branches above. I could see movement from within, but it was impossible to make anything out through all the vegetation.
“Careful now,” Vayde told us as we reached the edge of the trees. “There’s all kinds of annoying traps here. Little spores that have a nasty debuff if you step on them, vines that’ll slap you with a toxin damage over time spell that stacks. You get too many of those on you and I won’t be able to heal you through it.”
“Lovely,” D said sarcastically. “Sounds like a blast.”
“The good news is that the dungeon isn’t too far in,” Vayde explained. “We can make it easily if we’re careful. Here let me buff you.”
Vayde raised his wand and cast a spell at D. A steel-grey cage expanded from his wand and enveloped D. The sound of metal on metal filled the air as fiery sparks danced around him. Then, the cage vanished.
“What was that?” I asked.
“Armor Other 2,” Vayde said proudly. “Here you go, Jack.”
Vayde turned to me and cast the same spell. I watched as my armor level jumped from 975 to 1,050.
“Whoa, nice,” I said approvingly.
“It’s not a ton,” Vayde said. “But once I level up, I can learn the higher level versions that add a lot more.”
“Well, when we came into Stoneburg, I had 380 armor level. Now I’m over one thousand.”
“Moving up in the world.” D chuckled.
Vayde turned and aimed his wand at the trees in front of us and cast Shockwave. A set of white concentric circles rippled out from the tip of the blue crystal, expanded, and shot forward.
They slammed into the trees in front of us. I heard a high-pitched squeal and watched as the vines in front of us pulled themselves back up into the branches like they had minds of their own. One of the vines had snapped off and was squirming around at my feet like a wounded snake. It was covered in thick white spines that stuck out on all sides like fangs.
“Lovely.” I grimaced at D as I drew my sword and stepped into the trees.
15
Jungle Sickness
The air in the forest was thick and humid, filled with unfamiliar noises. I couldn’t see any monsters, but I had an uneasy feeling that they were there. Our way was constantly hampered by vines and low-growing vegetation, most of it covered in thorns. So far, we’d managed to avoid stepping in any of the traps Vayde had warned us about, but after the way things had gone in our time in Carrethen, I figured it was only a matter of time before something went wrong.
“What sort of level range are these woods?” D asked, an armor-piercing arrow nocked and ready in his bow.
That’s hopeful, I thought. Getting a clean shot on anything through all the trees and vegetation seemed impossible. He’d probably be better off just pulling out his daggers. If an attack was going to come, we probably wouldn’t see it until it was right on top of us.
“Mid teens,” Vayde replied. “But with me here you should be fine. I’ll protect you.”
Vayde looked over his shoulder at D and gave him an impish look. Vayde was no dummy. He knew D wasn’t pleased having to take a back seat, and he was having fun screwing with him.
“Yeah, well I’ll be the one laughing when you step on one of those toxic spores or get one of those teeth vines chewing your leg off.”
Vayde replied simply with another shockwave that tore a fresh path through the woods for us. Things were getting rocky as we moved on, and I couldn’t help but think that we were growing closer to the cave dungeon.
I placed my feet carefully. I had already spotted a few of the toxic spores Vayde had told us about. They were small, purple, and shaped like the tips of bananas and poked out from the ground in clusters. If you were paying attention, it wasn’t too hard to avoid them, but staggering back into one in the middle of a fight would be disastrous.
I ducked under a vine that hissed and flailed at me and motioned to D to avoid it as well. Insects buzzed around us, and although we hadn’t encountered any monsters yet, the whole forest itself felt like an enemy.
“How much farther is this place—” D started to say, when a thick cloud of purple smoke burst into the air between us. I leapt back from the acrid spores, but it was too late. The debuff hit me:
Jungle Sickness—Reduces targets armor level by 20 percent.
“Shit!” D coughed. “Who stepped on a spore!?”
“Not me!” Vayde shouted.
“Not me!”
“Well, someone must have!”
But then, something hissed behind us and I turned around to see an enormous armored creature that looked like a cross between a crab and an ant. It had a shining green carapace and two enormous sets of claws that looked like they could crush us all with ease.
“That’s an Armored Forest Crab! It’s an elite!” Vayde shouted. “Run!”
“Run?!”
“Run!”
Vayde didn’t wait for our reply. He was off, racing through the trees at top speed. I turned to chase after him when the crab struck out at me with one of its claws.
The blow hit me in the chest and sent me flying. I slammed into a tree and was instantly attacked by the spiked vines above.
The attack had dealt a good amount of damage. The Armored Forest Crab was obviously high level, and its elite status meant it was even more powerful. The Jungle Sickness debuff had made me even more vulnerable.
This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen, I thought as I slashed away the vines and got to my feet. The crab leapt at me again and I barely managed to scramble out of the way of its attack. It slammed against the tree behind me. The trunk snapped like a matchstick, spilling hissing vines everywhere.
I readied myself as the crab swung at me again. This time, I swung back, connecting with its claw. The blow barely registered on the creature’s health pool.
“Jack!” D shouted from somewhere behind me. “That thing’s level 34! Get the Hell out of there!”
I didn’t need to be told twice. Spinning around, I activated Warrior’s Charge and used the boost of speed to put some distance between us. I could hear the thing crashing through the forest behind me as I ran but didn’t waste any time looking back.
D was ahead of me, running as fast as he could. I reached him easily but had no idea where we were going, and Vayde was nowhere to be found.
“Where is he!?” I shouted.
“He bailed!” D snapped back. “See? I told you! Got us into trouble and then ran off!”
“Over here!” Vayde called out from somewhere. I looked in the direction his voice had come and could barely make out the yellow of his robe through the trees. He was jumping up and down, waving his arms above his head.
“There!” I pointed. D and I changed course, but the crab was gaining on us. There was a chance I could hold it off, but that thing would snap D in half with one blow.
“Duck!” Vayde shouted as we got closer. I didn’t have to be told twice. Grabbing D, I threw myself to the ground as one of Vayde’s Shockwaves blasted through the trees above me. Branches snapped, and vines died above me, spilling their lifeless spiny carcasses onto my back. I turned and watched as the Shockwave slammed into the crab.
The damage barely registered, but the spell stopped the crab in its tracks. The spell must have contained some kind of stun effect that had obviously gone off.
“Come on!” he shouted. We leapt to our feet and sprinted towards him, leaping over a thorny bush that hissed and grabbed at our legs as
we passed. I could see it now—an entrance to the cave dungeon behind Vayde. His shockwave had carved a tunnel through the trees ahead of us.
I looked behind to see that Vayde’s stun effect had worn off and the crab was charging towards us. It swung out with its claw, smashing an enormous boulder into pieces as it fought to catch us.
We were approaching the cave entrance. It was a thin, shadowed crack in the rock face behind Vayde. He was already inside.
I reached it first and slowed just enough to slide through the crack. D was right behind me. I looked back as he slipped inside, just as the crab came crashing down on us. Its hard shell slammed into the rock. It hissed and squealed as it slid one of its claws into the gap, furiously snapping at us. But the crack in the rock was just too narrow. We were safe.
“What the Hell was that thing!?” D said furiously, turning to Vayde. “I thought you said this forest was mid teens?”
“It’s an ultra-rare spawn,” Vayde replied, obviously embarrassed by what had just happened. “I mean—I’ve only ever heard rumors about them.”
D was still pretty pissed, but I put an arm on his shoulder. “We made it, D. It’s all good.”
“Yeah, as long as that thing isn’t here when we come back out.”
“Come on,” I said, drawing my sword and stepping deeper into the cave. “Let’s get you guys some experience.”
16
Cave Dungeon
The cave dungeon was dark. The tunnel was cramped, and the only light came from oddly placed torches that cast a flickering orange light over the moss-covered stone all around us. We had to duck in spaces to continue, and I was thanking God that I wasn’t claustrophobic.
The air smelled like soot and smoke with an acidic stench beneath it that I could only think was most likely the Horngrins we’d yet to run into. The cave was filled with millipedes that were about the size of my foot and would scurry away if you got close to them.
“If either of you ever pick up alchemy,” Vayde told us, squashing one beneath his boot. “Come back here and farm these guys. You can use them to make potions to increase your attack power.”
“Trade skills are for carebears,” D scoffed.
“Carebears?” Vayde asked.
“People who don’t PvP,” I explained with a laugh. “D’s a die-hard PvPer.”
“Well, so is the whole server now,” Vayde replied grimly, pushing ahead. We kept on until the tunnel fanned out and opened up, revealing a small camp of Horngrin. There were three basic Horngrin Ravagers, like we’d been fighting at the Bandit Tower, but a more menacing one stood between them.
Horngrin Jailer—level 17. He held a large mace and stood in front of a jail cell that had been carved out of the stone, complete with a door made of thick iron bars.
“Sometimes, these guys don’t kill you,” Vayde explained. “They get you low and then throw you in that cell and you’ve got to wait until your guild comes to get you.”
“What if your guild doesn’t come and get you?” I asked.
“You can use your Bindstone. But you’ll lose any experience you gained while you were here.”
“Love to meet the dev who came up with that one.” D grinned.
“Okay, I’ll hit them with a shockwave first,” Vayde continued. “They’ll gro me and you can go in, Jack. D, stay by me and just spray them with arrows.”
“Thanks for the strats, boss,” D said sarcastically. Vayde frowned and looked at me.
“Okay?”
“Got it,” I replied, readying myself.
Vayde raised his wand and fired the Shockwave. It crashed into all three of the Horngrins, knocking two of them down well below half health. Instantly, D started firing.
I charged, ignoring the Ravagers. D’s arrows took one down as I raised my sword at the Jailer. The blow did good damage and the Horngrin swung out at me with his club. It connected with my helm, but despite my Jungle Sickness Debuff, Gehman’s armor did its job in minimizing the damage.
I ducked his second attack and replied with my own, bringing my sword up against his chest and then back down across his neck. I activated Broad Strike and did even more damage, bringing it down past half.
One of Vayde’s Shockwaves slammed into it but grazed my shoulder and knocked me a few feet to the side.
“Hey, watch it!” I shouted back.
“Sorry!”
One of D’s arrows struck the Jailer, chipping away even more of its health.
“You guys wanna finish it off?” I asked, blocking the Jailer’s next blow. We were grouped up, but the game still allocated more experience to the members who did the most damage.
“Got it,” D replied, firing another arrow. I blocked the Jailer’s attacks the best I could as they took down the rest of its health. With a death howl, the Horngrin collapsed and exploded in a plume of smoke.
“That was easy.” I grinned, turning back to my group.
“Horngrin go down easily, but they’ll be back.” D grinned. “And in greater numbers.”
“Okay, Obi-Want.” I laughed, kicking the loot at my feet. “Junk mostly. A few Pareals. Anyone want his mace?”
It was a joke. No one wanted it for anything other than sell-loot. It probably wasn’t worth much, but I slid it into my inventory anyway.
“How was the experience?” I asked.
“Pretty good,” D replied. “I’m actually almost 13. If we spend a couple of hours here, I could probably hit 16.”
“How about you, Vayde?”
“I’m a little behind D,” he replied.
“Good.” I nodded. Finally, something was going our way.
“We need weapons,” D groaned. “Is everything in here more trash loot?”
“Well, at the bottom of the dungeon is a rare spawn Horngrin Executioner,” Vayde replied. “He’s an elite but has a super-rare drop.”
“What is it?”
“Something you’ll like, Jack.”
“A sword?” I asked, but Vayde just flashed me an impish grin as he led the way deeper into the dungeon.
We reached another Horngrin camp and the encounter went about the same as the last one, only this time there were more Ravagers with no big guy. I managed to distract them while D and Vayde did most of the damage.
The last one hit the ground and exploded out of existence. I heard the familiar “ding” sound of D leveling up behind me.
“Grats,” I told him as the sparkling effect of the level-up faded away.
“13, baby,” he smiled, pulling his character sheet to assign his XP. “My bow’s at 127. At 130 I can use elemental arrows.”
“Nice,” I replied. “Too bad Cavey didn’t have a bowyer back at town.”
“We’ve been trying to recruit one,” Vayde replied. “But the only ones we know of are working for Sinful or the Mercenaries or have been gobbled up by Bleed. The amount of experience they put into their trade skill makes them a lot weaker than everyone else.”
“Sounds familiar,” D said grimly. I knew instantly who he was talking about—Gehman.
I’d been trying my best to avoid thinking about the battle in Stoneburg, but it all came rushing back to me. Gehman’s eyes as Chaucey’s fire arrow embedded itself in his back. Bonecrusher firing Frost Bolts. The Mercenaries coming over the hill, the mysterious spell Psycho cast on Chaucey. When I pictured it again, a thought came to me.
“Hey, Vayde. I meant to ask you. Do you know anything about some kind of reverse armor spell like the one you cast on us?”
“Reverse?” Vayde asked.
“Yeah, I saw it back in town. Psycho cast it on Chaucey. It looked just like the armor spell you cast on us earlier, just… different.”
“Different, how?”
“It was the same as yours, but instead of expanding and surrounding him, it sort of collapsed into his chest,” I replied. “Then the next arrow that hit him almost killed him.”
“Sounds like a debuff,” D mused.
“There’s nothing like that i
n Protection Magic, which is the school I used to buff you with earlier.”
“Hmm,” I thought, scrolling through the trainable skills in my character sheet. “Protection Magic, Item Magic, War Magic and… Void Magic?”
“Yeah, nobody really knows what that is yet,” Vayde replied. “You can see it takes like twenty-two skill points and no one’s picked it up yet, so we don’t really know what it does.”
“Well, Psycho was level 21,” I said, scratching my chin. Call of Carrethen did let you build your character the way you wanted. What about a Swordsman with Void Magic? But before I had a chance to really think about it, an arrow struck the wall by my head.
“Horngrin!” D shouted, drawing his bow. I pulled my sword and leapt into action.
After another two hours in the cave dungeon, we were a well-oiled team. D hit 14 and Vayde was right behind him. The experience from the lower-level Horngrin had been stacking up and I was finally almost 21. A few more camps, maybe another half hour, and I’d finally gain my first level since The Ripper had cast his buff on me.
Buff.
That’s definitely what it was, but it was hard to think of it that way when at least half the server population was looking for me and wanted to kill me.
We’d been staying mostly to the first two levels of the cave. The main passage looped back on itself, making it easy to do a few loops and by the time we got back to the start, the camps we’d cleared out had respawned. But now that D and Vayde had both leveled up twice, we were ready to progress deeper.
“Which way?” I asked, staring at a two-way intersection before us.
“Well, if you want to go fight some Jungle Crabs, the one to the left takes you to this underground swamp thing where you have to swim from room to room—”
“Nope!” I interrupted firmly. “Nope, nope, and more nope. Swamps, water, and more of those debuffing crab assholes is a firm no from me.”
“Jack hates debuffs.” D chuckled.
“And water,” I replied. “Did you ever play that old Zelda game… Ocarina of Time?”
Vayde shook his head, but D smiled. He knew where I was headed.
Call of Carrethen: A LitRPG and GameLit novel (Wellspring Book 1) Page 7
