“So, I guess you’re going to join us at the Catacombs?” I teased Kattenschind. He cracked up and waved a hand in the air.
“Oh, no,” he replied. “You boys have fun with that. I’m a blacksmith. The only thing I’m good at beating the Hell out of is my anvil!”
“Well, we better get moving,” I said, turning to go. “Thanks for your help!”
“Uh, Jack?” Kattenschind asked in a tone that made me stop and turn around.
“Yah?”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?”
And then it clicked. My sword!
“Oh, God!” I laughed, walking over to him. “That would have been embarrassing. What’d you do to it?”
“Oh, just a tiny little upgrade,” he replied, pulling out my Executioner’s Blade. It was still matte black like before, but now the sharp edges… shimmered, in a way. It was almost like looking at oil, as though something was moving beneath the surface. Everything also just looked—more epic. It was hard to explain, but I could tell it had been upgraded.
“I like this place,” I laughed as I took it from him and inspected it.
Executioner’s Blade (Reinforced)—Damage 350—415 Slashing.
“Wow!” I blurted out.
“What, what, what!?” Baltos asked eagerly. Kattenschind just smiled and crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“You more than doubled the damage!”
“Damn right,” he replied. “Now go out there and kick some ass with it.”
39
Dangerous Business
Our new gear had brought the group’s spirits up significantly. Nothing made gamers happier than new loot, followed of course by levels and experience. But loot was where it was at. Not only did it make you look cooler, but it also satisfied that insatiable sense of adventure, exploration, and discovery.
Exploration…
As I looked around Stoneburg, I realized just how much of Carrethen I’d yet to explore. The game’s size had been overwhelming and that was before the threat of actual death.
Normally, before I set out to do any real leveling, the first thing I’d do in an MMO was run around the world and explore, even the high-level zones. It didn’t mean much to die at a low level, especially if you didn’t have any items worth losing. But that just wasn’t a possibility anymore.
My exposure to Carrethen had been pretty limited, and I tried to picture a red line on the world map signifying where I’d been so far. It wouldn’t have been much, and I found myself wishing that we just had a break from the realities of the world—some time to just relax and go for a wander to see what we could see. How many dungeons were there to discover? Hidden quests? NPCs? Caves behind waterfalls, or towns hidden in the mountains?
Why can’t this just be a game?! I thought as we stopped at the center of Stoneburg where Cavey and a few of his men had gathered. Xavier eyed us up and down with approval.
“So, I guess Kattenschind hooked you guys up nicely,” he remarked.
“Rubicire,” Baltos replied, running the back of his cestus along the red studs in his armor.
“Rubicite rip-off.” D chuckled.
“Rubicite?” Baltos asked. “What’s that?”
“You youngins,” D scoffed. “Never played the classics. Ever hear of Everquest, newb?”
“Everquest!?” Baltos roared. “That’s from like… forever ago! Isn’t that the old Blizzard game!?’
“What!?” D bellowed, almost falling over as he was taken with a fit of laughter. “You mean—World of fucking Warcraft? The most famous MMO of all time, next to this?”
Baltos frowned. “You played Everquest? What are you, like 50 years old or something?”
“Pshhh. I just have respect for the classics,” D said with pride.
“Hey, I do too—” Baltos protested.
“Lay off, D,” I scolded him, pushing in between them. “Not everyone’s as hardcore as you.”
“Damn right,” D replied.
“I’ve heard of it…” Baltos grumbled quietly to himself.
“So!” I announced to everyone present. “We’re all stocked up and ready to go.”
“We’re coming with you,” Cavey said, motioning to Xavier who was standing at his side.
“You still want to come?” I asked him. “Even after… what just happened?”
“Especially, after what just happened,” he replied emphatically.
“You guys are guild leaders,” Vayde said. “What if something happens to you two?”
Xavier and Cavey exchanged glances. Part of me really did want them both to come with us, just because I felt like we’d have strength in numbers, but at the same time, I didn’t want to endanger any more people.
“He has a point,” Xavier replied, stroking his beard. “I’ll go. Cavey, you stay here.”
“No, no, no.” Cavey shook his head. “I’m the leader. What kind of leader am I if I stay behind?”
“A smart one,” Xavier replied. “You are the anchor of Stoneburg. Everyone here listens to you. If—if something happens to you there, this place will fall apart. You have to stay.”
Cavey tensed up and opened his mouth to speak, but he stopped himself. Taking a deep breath, he looked up at the sky. I could almost see his mind working. He was mulling over his responsibilities as leader, and slowly, he accepted Xavier’s explanation.
“Fine,” he replied with a deep sigh. “You’re right. You five go. I will stay to look over Stoneburg.”
“You don’t have anyone else?” D asked, looking about the rest of his men.
“They’re too low level,” Cavey replied, shaking his head. “Besides us, the highest level we have is Shorros at 19.”
“So, send him along!” D growled, waving his arms at Shorros who was standing guard by the Bindstone. “That’s almost as high as us!”
Shorros looked at D, frowned, then started down the hill towards us. Cavey wasn’t happy about it, but he didn’t say anything. He wasn’t happy putting any of his men in harm’s way. He knew the danger. We all did. But our backs were up against the wall, and something had to be done.
“Sup?” Shorros asked with a tilt of his chin as he reached the group.
“We’re going to the Crimson Catacombs to fight Sinful,” D said simply. “You in?”
“You don’t have to—” Cavey started to say. But Shorros responded instantly.
“Yes.”
I could see the anger in his eyes. He’d been in Stoneburg for the raid and wanted revenge. Or, he just wanted to make sure it never happened again.
“Can you use elemental arrows yet?” D asked.
“Damn right,” he replied. “Got some?”
“Yep.” D opened a trade window and handed over some of his acid arrows.
“These guys are in their 30s,” I told him. “Just so you know.”
“Don’t care,” he replied. “We’re going to deal with them once and for all.”
That was the kind of reply D wanted to hear. The two nodded at each other and I turned to Vayde.
“Summon the portal.”
Vayde pulled out his wand, and I realized I’d never seen a player summon a portal before.
He held his wand close to his body as a light began to grow around it. It shimmered, grew and pulsed slightly, emitting a soft hum. Beads of blue and purple fluttered from his hands like leaves on the wind.
The light grew and grew. The beads of light twisted around his hands until finally, like a martial artist practicing his strikes, he pushed the wand forward in front of him.
Zap!
A portal burst into existence in front of us, its blue and purple rings sparkling with the sound of electricity. I turned to Vayde and smiled.
“All right. Let’s do this,” Baltos said with determination, stepping towards the portal.
It looked like every other portal I’d seen in Carrethen, but it wasn’t. It was a gateway to a place I did not want to go. It wasn’t the dungeon or the high-level monsters insid
e that scared me. It wasn’t even the thought of facing my own death—it was the thought of what I was going to have to do once I got there.
I watched as my companions stepped into the portal, one by one, and were swept away until it was just D and me. I pulled my sword out and twirled it around in my hand, feeling the weight of it.
Look how far you’ve come, I told myself. I thought back to my first hours fighting Horngrin with D and how I could barely even swing my sword. He nodded to me.
“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off too.”
Gritting my teeth, I clutched my sword and stepped into the portal.
40
The Crimson Catacombs
Portal space swirled around me, and I fought to resist the feelings of security it gave me. So long as the blue and purple walls were swirling around me, I was safe. Nothing could harm me as the game swept me away from Stoneburg to the Crimson Catacombs.
The game.
It felt almost wrong to refer to Carrethen that way after what had happened.
The developers had advertised Call of Carrethen as “stepping into another reality,” but that was wrong. Call of Carrethen was my reality, and I was about to face the most difficult situation I’d ever had to face.
I couldn’t help but think about the gamers who’d bought the Wellspring, their copy of Call of Carrethen, but for whatever reason, hadn’t logged in yet. No doubt they knew what had happened by now—the whole world would know by now. Did they feel cheated, having their dreams of Carrethen dashed?
They don’t know how lucky they are.
Sections of the portal began to peel away, revealing stone the color of blood, and I found myself standing in the Crimson Catacombs. I was shocked at first. For whatever reason, I’d assumed Vayde’s portal would drop us off outside, but I was wrong. We were in, and when I turned around, all I saw behind me was a rock wall. The only way out of this dungeon was the portal at the bottom, or a Bindstone back home, and that wasn’t an option. D portaled in beside me.
“We’re all here,” Xavier said, and I looked around to see the rest of my party standing at the ready. We were surrounded on all three sides by the dark, crimson walls of the dungeon. A tunnel, the only way to go, stretched out in front of us.
The air was acrid, acidic, and smelled… dangerous. Patches of green moss, or maybe just rotted vegetation, clung to the walls here and there, and from somewhere deep beneath us, I could hear what sounded like the chattering of… insects.
“Ilizak,” I said to D. He nodded grimly.
“I don’t like this place.” Baltos sighed.
“You’re not supposed to,” D replied, sounding a little snippy. “It’s a high-level Ilizak dungeon. We shouldn’t even be here.”
“What level are we talking?” Baltos asked.
“Forty and up,” D replied grimly. Everyone was visibly tense.
“What’s the next move?” I asked. “You’re the one who’s been here.”
“There’s only one move,” D replied. “Run.”
“What are you talking about?” Xavier asked. His usual bravado was fading from his voice. It was one thing to be brave when you know the score, but an entirely different story when facing the unknown.
“That’s how it’s done,” D explained. “There’s a route to get to the bottom. This place is like a maze, the Ilizak are way too high level for us, and will gang up on you if you stop. The only way we make it down there is by sticking together and running to the exploit spot.”
“Won’t the Ilizak run us down?” I asked. “We’ll have the entire dungeon on us.”
“There are a few places to lose them,” D replied. “There’s basically an enormous open shaft that runs down the middle of the dungeon to the pit below. We make a few… small jumps over it on the way down. The Ilizak don’t jump and just fall in.”
“A few small jumps?” Vayde asked hesitantly.
“Look, the longer we sit here and talk the more you guys are gonna want to bail,” D replied. “We just need to go—now. You can put your weapons away. We won’t need them until we get to the bottom and running with them will just slow you down.”
We all stood motionless for a few seconds. D glanced at me, and I took his hint and put my sword away. Shorros followed, then Vayde, and Xavier. Baltos still wore his cestus, and I envied him for a moment. He was the only one going into the dungeon armed—with unarmed combat weapons, as ironic as that was.
“Okay, D,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Let’s do it.”
“Stay on my ass,” he hissed. “And don’t fall behind. I am not stopping for anything.”
And with that, we were off.
D leapt forward and sprinted down the hallway into the shadows. I followed at top speed.
The path dipped down almost immediately and swung hard to the left. A blast of steam sprayed out of a geyser in the wall, filling my lungs with wet, acrid vapor. I coughed and spat as I raced forward.
The thick, humid air invaded my nostrils and ears and tasted foul against my tongue. It pulled at my arms and legs as I ran, almost as though I was trying to race through water. Rotted moss hung everywhere, and I had to swing out with my arm to knock it out of the way as I chased after D.
As we rounded another corner, something hissed beside me, and I leapt out of the way just in time to dodge a serrated claw slashing out towards my neck.
“Ah!” I shouted, leaping over another steam vent in the floor. Glancing over my shoulder, I had time to make out an enormous bug-like creature, with a shiny carapace of crimson and purple, standing on two legs, with two sets of arms, each tipped with serrated claws like swords.
“Look out!” I shouted behind me. Someone cried out in surprise and I heard the sound of something clang against metal, but there was no time to go back. D was running at top speed and if I lost him, we’d all be lost.
“Jump coming up!” D shouted, his voice barely echoing through the thick air.
“Jump coming up!” I called over my shoulder, relaying the message down the line.
“Jump coming!” It was Vayde’s voice behind me. Someone repeated it behind him.
The tunnel sloped down again. I ducked to avoid another steam vent and swung out with my arm to knock a rotted vine out of the way. There was an opening in the stone to my right, but D was going straight, and so was I. I glanced to my right as I passed and saw a group of at least five Ilizak clustered in the shadows of a small room, their glowing eyes peering out of the darkness towards me.
Skreeee!
Their cry was like a thousand tiny daggers against my eardrums, and I clasped my hands over my ears as I picked up the pace.
“Look out!” I shouted to the others behind me. D’s presence must have alerted the Ilizak, and I got their attention. There was a good chance they’d attack the others behind me.
But there was no time to think about that. The tunnel swerved left, then dipped to the right and folded back on itself. D was right—it really was a maze.
The ground leveled out, and I looked up just in time to see D hurl himself off a ledge and soar out into a void of pure black.
“Don’t look!” he shouted as he soared through the air. “Just jump!”
Time seemed to slow down as I ran. Every one of my footsteps rang out like Kattenschind’s hammer against his anvil. My eyes went wide as I approached the edge and got a glimpse of what was ahead of me.
D was right. It was an enormous empty shaft cutting its way through the middle of the dungeon. I could see countless other ledges and openings below, but not a single bridge, stone or man-made.
I was two steps from the edge and looked out to see D as he landed on a ledge at least thirty feet below on the opposite side of the shaft. He hit hard and rolled and was off running.
This is it! I thought. Closing my eyes, I hurled myself off the edge into the void.
41
The Ilizak Horde
I hurtled through the air like a meteor. The air swept across my ears like I was hanging onto the outside of a speeding train. I opened my eyes and looked down. Far, far beneath me I could barely make out the ground floor of the dungeon.
Shadows. Crimson stone. Moss, and… more Ilizak than I could even begin to count.
It was like a beehive. They swarmed around each other, climbing over one another, hissing and screeching, their pointed pincers clacking against the stone like some deadly rhythm that sent a chill down my spine as I flew through the air.
We’re never going to make it, I thought as I looked up. The ledge rushed towards me, and I braced myself for impact. I hit hard and tried to roll like D, but my knee slammed into the stone and sent me sprawling into the wall. I watched at least a quarter of my health instantly disappear. Falling damage was no joke.
I needed to heal, but there was no time. I heard D’s voice call out to me.
“Come on!” he shouted, and I looked up to see his legs disappear around the corner to the right.
“Gaaaah!” I heard Vayde shouting as he made the jump and knew I had only seconds before he slammed into me. I leapt to my feet and chased after D. As I rounded the corner I heard Vayde hit the ground behind me.
“I made it!” he shouted ecstatically. “I made it!”
“Keep up!” I called back as I picked up the pace.
The tunnels really started to get complicated as D wound his way through them, me hot on his heels shouting directions to the others behind me.
“Left here!” I called out.
“Left!” Vayde relayed back to Baltos.
“Left, Shorros!”
“Left, Xavier!”
The voices were like a call and response choir behind me and filled me with a sense of pride and purpose. I was with my crew! We were on a mission, and we were going to succeed!
I ducked left and leapt another vent. The Catacombs wound down through the blood-red stone like the very tunnels themselves had been formed by acid flowing through the rock—like a system of veins and arteries belonging to some enormous beast bigger than the mountain itself.
Call of Carrethen: A LitRPG and GameLit novel (Wellspring Book 1) Page 18
