Call of Carrethen wasn’t a procedurally generated world like so many others. Every inch of it had been hand crafted by the developers. To enjoy a part of the world was to enjoy someone else’s handiwork and creativity. God hadn’t created this world—man had.
But a God had come to Carrethen, and his name was The Ripper.
32
The Sound of Danger
“It’s strange we don’t have to sleep at night,” I said as we walked. Baltos had reached level 19 pretty quickly, and we’d decided to spend a few more hours leveling. Everyone but me had gained a level, but I was close to 24. Baltos and Vayde were both 20 and D was 21. I was feeling better about things, but there was no telling how high Sinful were. We still had a hard fight ahead of us.
“I don’t sleep. Not ever,” D said in a strange tone. I glanced over at him as Vayde made a puking sound.
“Did you just quote Twilight!?” he asked. D didn’t reply, just looked back with a mischievous grin. Vayde erupted into laughter. “Team Edward or Team Jacob—?”
“That’s enough of that!” I interrupted before the conversation could go on any longer and possibly give me an aneurism.
“I’m not team anybody,” D replied. “I’m a movie quote machine, badass PvPer, and all around God. Okay? Okay!?”
Baltos put a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter.
“Yeah, you’re a fan.” Vayde smirked, not buying D’s explanation.
“Watch it,” D replied. “Or I’ll put an acid arrow in your ass.”
The weather had turned hazy, almost foggy, which was making it hard to see too far in front of us. We’d passed many trees as we’d walked, and they were becoming less and less frequent as we went on. The ground was also starting to slope up and I was getting the feeling that we were on our way out of Arana.
“What’s after this?” I asked.
“The Iron Mountains I think,” Vayde replied. “Right, D?”
“Yup.”
“And that’s where the Catacombs are, right?” I asked.
“That’s right,” D replied.
“Last leg of the journey,” Baltos exclaimed triumphantly.
We pushed forward. As we continued up the slope, the fog thickened, and the warm green grass of the Plains of Arana were replaced by rock covered in dark green moss. Patches of rust-colored stone began to appear as the slope increased, and I understood where the mountains had gotten their name.
“What’s with this fog?” I asked. “Come on, Vayde. Don’t you have some sort of spell for this?”
“Sorry,” he replied. “But this isn’t Harry Potter.”
“Getridoffogacus!” Baltos exclaimed, brandishing a fake wand in the air.
Smiling, we pushed forward. The terrain started to get worse. Enormous boulders blocked our path and wide crevices cut shadowy lines through the stone at our feet. I peered down in one but couldn’t make out the bottom.
“Don’t fall in,” D joked.
The whole place felt as though it had sprung out of the ground by some force beneath us, splitting the earth and forming massive swells of stone that had to be scaled and then carefully navigated down to the other side. It made our progress slow.
“This has to be the base of the mountains—” I started to say but stopped as a sound rang out in the distance.
Boom!
“What was that?” Baltos asked, freezing in his tracks.
“Shh,” I said, raising a hand. We waited. Then I heard it again.
Boom! Boom!
This time, I didn’t just hear the sound, I felt it. The ground beneath my feet shook, scattering small stones and spilling them into an open scar in the rock behind us. They echoed as they clattered down into the dark depths.
“Something big,” I said.
“It’s a Stone Giant,” D replied, a grave look on his face.
“Is that bad?”
“Probably,” D replied. “I’ve only heard about them. The devs hadn’t added them in Beta, but the idea was to just let them roam around the continent and stir up trouble.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” Vayde said. I nodded in agreement.
“It sounds like it’s coming from ahead of us,” D said.
“Shit,” I cursed. “We need to find another way around.”
“There’s no other way,” D replied. “The Crimson Catacombs are literally in the Iron Mountains.”
“Well, we’re in no shape to be fighting a Stone Giant,” I said. “Not unless they were dumb enough to make it level 20 or something.”
“Fat chance,” Vayde scoffed.
“We might be able to outrun it if we see it first,” D suggested. “But with all this fog…”
He was right. The fog was thick, and it was impossible to see anything but rock, rock, and more rock.
“Okay,” I replied, taking charge. “We keep moving, but we stay low and keep out of its sight. How far away are we, D?”
“Uhh… not far I think.”
“You think!?” I snapped. “What the Hell does that mean? You said you’d been here before!”
“Yeah, but it was a long time ago and I only walked out once,” D replied. “After that we just had a portal summon. Plus, look at all this fog!”
“Jesus Christ, D!” I shouted. “So you mean—we don’t even know where we’re going now!?”
“Well, it’s around here somewhere!” he shouted back. “You can’t expect me to remember everything!”
“You could have mentioned it before now!”
“Would that have helped?”
Boom! Boom!
“Those were closer,” Vayde said quietly. He was right. The ground was shaking, and I couldn’t help but feel like the Stone Giant’s enormous foot, or whatever it had to walk on, was about to come swinging out of the fog and squash us.
“Okay,” I said quickly. “Let’s get moving. Standing here isn’t going to do anything.”
With that, I took off up the slope, pushing my way through the fog.
If all else fails, maybe we can outrun it, I thought—I hoped.
As we pushed on, the terrain grew steeper but began to even out. We were moving as fast as we could, but also trying to be quiet, which was near impossible with all the loose rocks and stones at our feet.
Sickly red vines protruded from the rock ahead of us. I grabbed one and used it to hoist myself up a particularly steep cliff face.
“Looks like the fog clears out at the top here,” I stammered as I pulled myself up. “Maybe we can get our bearings.”
I reached the top of the cliff and saw that I was right—the fog had definitely thinned out and I was finally able to see things.
An enormous mountain rose up before me, rising up into the dark grey clouds that swirled at its peak. Whatever we’d been climbing was nothing compared to the sheer size of the monstrosity before us.
The ground ahead fanned out into a small plateau. Dark pools of blood-red liquid were spattered here and there with bands of wet, mold-colored moss along their edges.
I heard the rest of my party climb up behind me, and that’s when I saw the Stone Giant.
33
The Stone Giant
The Stone Giant was half the size of one of the trees back in Arana. It really was made of stone, the dark crimson stone of the mountain, covered in dark moss that hung from its body like veins. It had no weapons that I could see, but its fists were the size of the entire town of Stoneburg. It was the most incredible thing I’d ever seen in my life.
“Wow.” I heard Baltos gasp as he came up beside me. “Look at the size of that thing!”
“Cut the chatter, Red Two—” D started to joke, but stopped when he saw what we were looking at. “Oh…”
The Stone Giant was still a good distance away from us, but when it swung its foot down again, the entire plateau shook.
Boom!
I watched as the Stone Giant raised one of its enormous arms above its head and swatted at something moving beneath h
im.
“Oh my God!” I whispered as I saw them. Hundreds of players, maybe more, swarming beneath the massive monster, firing arrows and spells as fast as they could. Melee players were chipping away at its feet with whatever weapons they had, swinging as fast as they could.
“They’re trying to take it down,” D said, almost with admiration.
“There must be hundreds of them,” Baltos remarked. “How could you ever organize such an enormous party?”
“It’s Bleed,” Vayde grumbled. I turned and looked at him. His face was tight, angry, his eyes narrow.
“The zerg guild Xavier told us about?” I asked. He nodded.
“That’s what they do,” he continued. “Swarm down monsters, zones, towns, whatever gets in their way. If they see us, we’re as good as dead. Unless of course you want to swear allegiance to them…”
“Join or die,” I said, repeating Xavier’s words.
“No thanks,” D scoffed.
“What’s that tabard they’re wearing?” Baltos asked.
“A drop of blood,” Vayde replied. “That’s their guild logo. Everyone gets one. Everyone has to wear one.”
I looked around us, searching for a sign that might tell us the direction of the Catacombs. I couldn’t help but think that with the pools of red liquid and the color of the rock that we were close, but we had to cross the plateau first—and that meant exposing ourselves, not only to the Stone Giant, but to Bleed.
“Maybe they’re too busy fighting to notice us?” Baltos suggested unenthusiastically.
“That’s a big risk,” D replied. “They’ve got enough men to send ten, even twenty after us and just gank the Hell out of us.”
“Not if we’re really fast?” Baltos replied, but I could tell even he didn’t believe what he was saying.
We were so close to our destination and had been blocked by yet another obstacle. The plateau in front of us was basically a stone version of the Plains of Arana—smooth, open, and no cover whatsoever.
“I don’t see any other way,” I finally said. “We have to cross this plateau, and there’s no telling how long Bleed’s going to be there fighting that Stone Giant.”
“Got any Quickness buffs, Vayde?” D asked. Vayde simply shook his head.
“All right,” I said, pointing my finger to one of the larger crimson pools ahead of us. “We aim for that lake, pond thingy right there. Maybe we can hide behind that rock.”
“Doubtful,” D replied. “Not room enough for all of us.”
“Then we keep running,” I said, gritting my teeth.
Without waiting for a reply, I leapt forward and began sprinting as fast as I could across the rocky plateau. It was difficult footing, with all the loose rock and crimson pools that I was eager to avoid. No telling what those were.
I didn’t even bother looking towards Bleed and the Stone Giant. It was just a waste of time. Either they saw us, or they didn’t, there was nothing to do but press on.
My legs were pistons, pumping against the ground to propel me forward. I could hear the other three behind me, their feet clapping against the stone as they raced after me.
Come on, come on! I was shouting inside. We had to make it. I hadn’t come this far to get my plans thwarted by some stupid zerg guild or a mindless Stone Giant.
I was more than half way across the plateau, closing in on the pond, when I heard a shout in the distance.
“They’ve spotted us!” Baltos bellowed behind me.
I activated Warrior’s Charge to boost myself forward. I was practically flying as I leapt over a small pool of crimson liquid. My feet hit the ground and I jumped forward again and slid behind cover of the rock I’d been aiming for. Bleed wouldn’t be able to see me, but the others were still out in the open and vulnerable.
“Come on!” I shouted. Peering over the boulder, I could see a small group of players splintering off from the larger group. They were heading in our direction. D and Vayde reached me, but I looked up just in time to see Baltos’ foot snag in a crack in the stone. He gasped, toppled forward, and slammed face-first into the rock beneath him.
“Shit, come on!” I shouted to D, sliding out from behind the cover of the rock and racing over to Baltos. He wasn’t knocked out, but he was dazed. I tried to help him to his feet, but he stumbled again and fell.
“Come on, buddy,” D told him, sliding an arm under his shoulder. I took the other one and we quickly dragged him back over to the boulder.
“We have to get moving, now,” Vayde hissed. “They’re coming!”
“Wake up, Baltos!” I snapped, slapping Baltos on the cheek. “Wake up, buddy!”
Boom! Boom!
The Stone Giant’s mass shook the plateau and I looked up to see the group of Bleed players were halfway to us already.
“My head…” Baltos groaned, blinking his eyes like he wasn’t able to focus on anything.
“Would a healing spell help, Vayde?”
“It might,” Vayde replied, quickly casting. The blue wisps enveloped Baltos’ body, restoring the minor sliver of health he’d lost from his fall. Instantly, Baltos’ expression returned, and his eyes focused on me.
“He’s back—he’s back!” I shouted. “You good?”
“I’m good,” he replied, getting to his feet.
“Good. Then let’s get the Hell out of here!”
34
Leap of Faith
I picked a direction and started running. There was no time to debate. The Bleed group was gaining on us, at least ten of them, and if they caught us we’d be in deep trouble. They probably knew the area much better than we did and would know all the places we would find to try and hide. Our best bet was to find the Catacombs, let Vayde portal tie, and then Bindstone back to Stoneburg.
The only problem? We had no idea where the Catacombs were.
“Here?” I shouted to D, pointing to my right.
“I—I don’t know!” he shouted back.
“Goddamn it, D!”
“I’m sorry! I told you, I can barely remember this place. It all looks the same!”
Rocks scattered under my feet as I leapt over a crack in the rock. A vine snagged my ankle but tore from the stone as I pushed on.
Boom!
The ground shook violently beneath me. I turned and glanced over my shoulder to see the Stone Giant’s fist slam into the ground, scattering enormous stone fragments everywhere. A Bleed player tumbled head over heels as he cartwheeled through the air, sent soaring into the sky by the Giant’s blow.
He’s done for, I thought as I turned away.
“Look out!” Vayde shouted. I whipped my head around and skidded to a halt just in time so as not to fall into an enormous crevice stretching out on all sides in front of me. It was at least ten feet across and would be a tough jump. Warrior’s Charge might get me over it, but the others would have a hard time.
“What do we do now!?” Baltos cried out.
I leaned over the edge and peered into the darkness, trying to see if I could make out the bottom. Maybe it wasn’t as deep as it looked, and we could jump in and hide until the Stone Giant and Bleed party were gone. But the shadows in the crevice were thick, almost impenetrable.
“They’re getting closer, Jack!” D hissed, taking my arm. “We’re going to have to Bindstone!”
“No!” I shouted, shaking my head. “We can’t! We have to tie to the Catacombs!”
“This is no time to be noble!” he shouted. “If we don’t get out of here, we’re all dead!”
“D is right, Jack,” Vayde said vehemently. “We need to get out of here.”
I was starting to panic. Was this really the end of the line for us? Had we come all this way for nothing?
But then—I saw it. Our salvation.
“There!” I exclaimed, pointing into the crevice. Just ahead of us, on the sheer cliff face before it plummeted into shadow, was a small stone lip jutting out from the rock, and behind it, more shadows.
“Right there!
We can jump to that! It looks like there’s a cave down there, we can hide until they pass!”
“But—what if there’s not a cave there?” Vayde asked.
“And how do we get out once we’re down there?” D added.
“And what if there’s… really big monsters down there?” Baltos asked hesitantly.
“It’s our only chance,” I replied, backing up and preparing myself to make the jump. “You can come with me or not, but I’m going.”
Without waiting for a reply, I sprinted forward towards the edge of the enormous crevice that lay before us like an open mouth. I planted my foot and leapt forward with all my strength.
I soared through the air, flailing wildly as I hurtled towards the ledge. I stuck out my leg to catch the edge, slammed into the stone and rolled forward, bracing myself for impact. But I kept rolling, sliding into the darkness.
There is a cave! I realized as I got to my feet.
“Look out below!” I spun around just in time for D to slam into me and send us both toppling backwards.
“Ahhhh!” Baltos shouted as he plummeted towards us.
“Move!” I roared at D, scrambling to get out of the way of Mr. Glorious the Meteor as he came crashing down to land on the stone where we’d just been.
“Holy shit, I made it!” he exclaimed, standing up and laughing as he looked up at the long jump we’d just made.
“Where’s Vayde?” I asked. “Baltos, where is he!?”
“He was right behind me!” Baltos replied.
All three of us rushed to the edge and looked up to the top of the crevice.
“Vayde!” Baltos shouted.
“Come on, come on, come on,” I muttered, staring up at the light filtering down from above. Any second and we’d see Vayde’s body soaring through the air to join us. Any second…
“Where is he!?” D cursed.
“Maybe they got him…” Baltos suggested.
“Shut up!” D roared.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Stone Giant was getting closer.
“Maybe he used his Bindstone,” I suggested, not totally believing it myself. I looked at D and saw he wasn’t buying it either.
Call of Carrethen: A LitRPG and GameLit novel (Wellspring Book 1) Page 15
