Chapter 145
The group gathered around the cooking station on the first floor and Aiden picked up the giant bobbin and cradled it in one arm.
“What now?” Carly asked nervously. She really did not want to have to crawl across the balance beam again.
Jay smiled kindly, “So the group is going to escort Aiden and the bobbin upstairs to the loom room. Anyone who doesn't want to go can wait here. Once the group reaches the loom room we'll send someone back through the portal to get you. You'll return through the portal with them and then meet us in the loom room. Questions?”
Carly smiled in relief and shook her head. Jay looked about to see if anyone else was planning on staying but the rest of the group seemed fine with taking the long way up.
“Ok, sit tight. We'll be back for you,” M'redith said with a smile as the group left Carly sitting at the cooking station. They all waved one last time before they lost sight of her as the group moved up to the second floor. F2.
The balance beam.
Aiden didn't wait but ran right across the gap, one arm cradled the bobbin while his other carried his staff which he tucked under his arm. He reached the other side in seconds and hopped off the beam and on to the ground at the other end. With a grin he waved back at the others. “Come on over! It's easy!”
Norri grumbled under her breath but tied her staff off to her pack before she laid down along the beam and began to slowly shimmy herself across. It wasn't fast. It wasn't graceful. It was however effective. She got there finally and Aiden helped her up. Norri dusted herself off and took her staff off of her pack.
Jay followed, and then M'redith. They each decided to shimmy across just as Norri had. Everyone was tired and the last thing they wanted was to lose their balance and end up injured after all they had survived up until that point. Being safe trumped being fast.
It took maybe fifteen, twenty minutes, for the group to make it across. No one spoke or made small talk. Everyone focused on what they were doing to the exclusion of all else. They all reached the far side and Jay sighed in relief.
“I can't really blame Carly for not wanting to do this again.” Jay admitted to the group.
“I certainly didn't want to do it again,” Norri groused under her breath but kept smiling.
M'redith laughed at Norri's mutterings. “No one wants to have to do it again,” M'redith began.
“I don't mind it!” Aiden interjected.
M'redith rolled her eyes and continued, “The important thing is that it's done and we can move on.”
Aiden was still grinning as the group traveled further to the next floor.
F3. The traps hallway.
“Careful here,” Jay warned the others. “Don't walk on the rug in the middle of the floor – stay along the edges.”
Jay went first and used his Streamer Ball to check for trip wires. He found none as he had already cleared the hallway earlier but he wanted to be sure. Safety before speed.
The others followed along behind him and they passed through the hallway without incident. It took them only a few moments to pass through the hallway. Their first trip down the hallway had taken a significantly longer amount of time.
“This is easy,” Aiden said as they walked.
Norri winced. “You're going to get us in to trouble talking like that.”
Aiden laughed but apologized to Norri before trying again. “This is..better than last time?”
Norri grinned and nodded. “That was phrased much better that time.”
M'redith took over at the end of the hallway and led them in to the next room.
The room had a door on the opposite end of the room with a small waterfall placed next to it. The floor was tiled and the walls were a pebbled white substance. Massive timbers loomed above them and supported the next floor up.
The room was empty of any enemies. Their last time through the room they had to avoid a number of lines of rats as they learned how to handle the balls of poop they sometimes left behind. This time all they had to do was walk to the exit door.
Nothing stopped them, no rats appeared. The room felt a bit lonely and empty.
“This is great, we can just walk right through!” Aiden stated with a smile as the group quickly walked through the room and out the other door. Thankfully when they had last passed through the room they had pulled a lever behind the waterfall that had disabled the room's rat challenge.
They entered the next room which just held the stairs leading further up in to the lighthouse. They climbed the stairs together until they reached the next floor, F3.
They left the third floor stairwell room and proceeded to the next. A vast circular room with a column of water in the middle that fell in to a rock pool in the room's center. Bright torches lined the walls.
Last time the room had held a mound – the floor's boss. This time the room was empty, and the group trudged through at a slow pace. The group was too tired to run. Their footsteps echoed in the chamber and mingled with the sound of crashing water from the central waterfall feature.
No giant rat to fight this time, the group proceeded unmolested and in to the next room. It led upwards and the group dutifully climbed the stairs to the fourth floor.
F4. The fog room.
Last time there they had been lost in fog for what had felt like hours and even though the room was currently brightly lit and clear the others all gathered closer together as they each remembered what the room had been like before.
As they entered the room nothing happened. Nothing continued to happen as they walked halfway in to the room and stopped.
“It should have gotten foggy in here by now, right?” M'redith asked no one in particular.
“I don't think we even made it this far in to the room last time before the fog hit.” Norri said absentmindedly as they walked further.
They made it across the room without incident. It was just a room. No tricks left, it was effortless this time for the group to pass through. No monsters either. Empty.
They continued on and up to F5. As they arrived on the fifth floor they were stopped by the thick metal door set in to the wall of the stairwell room.
“Oh hey! This is it isn't it?” Norri asked sweetly as M'redith opened the door.
A large workshop was revealed, the room dominated by the giant dark wood and painted yellow metal loom located in its center.
“Finally. Ok everyone, sit tight while we send someone to get Carly. Any volunteers?” M'redith asked.
“I'll do it,” Jay said. “I need to change the setting on the generator down there anyway. I forgot to do it last time and the loom won't work without power.”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The others smiled and nodded and Norri waved as they each took a seat at one of the open chairs scattered across the room at various workstations.
Jay headed out of the room and up one more level. He passed through the open doorway on the sixth floor and in to the main boss' room. The lighthouse lamp was still lit and rotated slowly. Jay didn't spend much time in the room but used the portal hanging in the air to return to the first floor cooking station.
“You're back!” Carly said and sounded a bit more relieved than she had meant to.
Jay grinned, “Told ya someone would get you! Just give me a minute before we head back up, I have to reset the generator.”
Carly shrugged but sat back down and waited patiently for him with her eyes closed. She was tired, it had been a long day and a long dungeon run.
Jay walked quickly over to the generator and inspected the buttons on it once again. One button was currently depressed, the white circle that indicated power was flowing to the main light. Jay pressed the button with a black circle on it and the white circle button popped up, no longer depressed.
“That should shut off the main light. Now to power the loom,” Jay mumbled to himself as he scanned for the button with a grid like pictogram on its surface. Finally finding it Jay pushed the button until it made a satisfying click sound. The button did not pop back up when he released his finger but instead stayed in the depressed position.
“That should do it,” Jay said as he walked back over to Carly. “Let's head up.”
She got up a bit slower than usual and the two returned through the portal to the boss' room. Jay led her through the main door, down the stairs, and through a door in to the loom room.
“You made it!” Norri said and clapped once before smiling widely at Carly.
“It wasn't hard. All I had to do was wait. You guys did the hard part.” Carly admitted.
Aiden chuckled. “No worries. We're all here now. Ok Jay, let's see if you're right about that bobbin.”
Aiden helped Jay lift the bobbin on to the rod Jay indicated. They let the bobbin slide down on to the rod until the bobbin came to rest against the baseplate.
Aiden played out a bit of yarn so that he could thread it in to the machine.
Jay walked to the back of the machine and found the button with the grid carved in to it. He pressed the button and the light next to it lit up green.
The loom shook violently for a moment as the many pieces began to move in concert. As the machine continued to spin up they were presented with a notification.
Loom Power at 78%
Bobbin: Phasic Arachnid Yarn
Socket: -empty-
Error: Magical yarn source detected. Unable to process with empty Socket. Please insert an Energy Source in order to continue.
JOB HALTED
“What socket is it talking about do you think?” Aiden asked as he began to examine the loom a bit closer.
Jay joined him and the two began to go over the machine piece by piece. It took almost a half hour, the machine was massive and had various sub-units that also fed in to the main machine.
It was one of those sub-units that Aiden was inspecting when he found it. Part of the sub-unit's housing slid back to reveal a socket, much like the socket the group had found on the Armor Case in the basement. The socket looked as if it used a gem that was a bit thicker than the normal Upgrade Stone.
Aiden waved the others over and everyone joined him. They all inspected the socket and reached the same conclusion.
“Jay...” M'redith started, unsure of how to proceed.
Jay sighed deeply. “I know. I'm trying to decide if this is worth wasting one on.”
Carly blinked, “Wasting what on?”
Jay shook his head, “This loom doesn't run on Upgrade Stones, no, this machine runs on Traveler's Upgrade Stones. They're a bit thicker than normal ones and should fit in that socket perfectly. I can't tell you how much I do not want to sacrifice my one Traveler's Upgrade Stone. I was really excited to find out what upgrade I would get.”
Norri came over and reached up to give him a pat on the back. “It's ok. We'll just find you another, right?”
Jay smiled. It wasn't entirely impossible to think that they would find another one as time went on. Eden seemed to be packed full of treasure as long as one was willing to go and get it.
“You're right. I'm being greedy. Let's see what this thing can do.” he finally admitted.
Jay took out his thick fat Traveler's Upgrade Stone and pushed it in to the socket. As he did so it made a satisfying click and the housing slid closed over it.
The group walked back to the front of the loom and waited.
“Do we have to push a button or something?” Norri asked.
“I don't think so,” Jay answered, “It said to insert an energy source to continue. We did that. So it should continue soon.”
Time continued to pass until the loom made a series of clicking noises. A notification followed soon after.
Loom Power at 78%
Bobbin: Phasic Arachnid Yarn
Socket: Traveler's Upgrade Stone
Magical yarn source detected. Phasic Arachnid recipe match located. Recipe loaded.
WARNING: This job will completely consume all ingredients. This action may not be undone!
Do you wish to proceed? Y/N
There was a pause as everyone looked at each other as if to say 'this is it!'
Jay mentally selected Y and the notification disappeared. The machine heaved to life as parts began to whip back and forth as the contraption burst in to a flurry of movements. The noise was horrendous, a deep industrial sound intermixed with high pitched gear noises.
The group could barely hear themselves talk and had to shout in order to make themselves heard.
“HOW LONG WILL THIS TAKE?” Aiden yelled.
Jay inspected the machine for ten seconds until he received a new notification.
Job Completion: 2% | 38 minutes remaining
Jay groaned as he yelled what he had seen to the others.
M'redith waved to get everyone's attention and led them back through the doorway to the room with the stairs leading downward. She shut the door after everyone had made it in and the noise instantly dissipated.
“I can hear again!” Norri exclaimed excitedly. Norri spent a lot of time excited it seemed.
“We've got 38 minutes to go before that thing finishes. I thought we could come back here where it's quiet and rest up a bit. Actually, is there anything else we still need to do in here Jay?” M'redith asked.
Jay shook his head, “This is it really. After we finish this we can all go home.”
The others actually cheered. The idea of going home was incredibly attractive at that point for everyone involved.
“Ok, rest up everyone. Jay and I will take watch, so if you feel like taking a nap, you're welcome to it.” M'redith offered kindly.
Aiden didn't need to be told twice, and he settled on the ground as he used a section of his backpack as a pillow.
Carly watched him before she decided that it was an excellent idea. She too lay down but couldn't seem to make her backpack to be as comfortable as Aiden's seemed to be. She eventually gave up and lay down as best she could.
Norri sat with her arms crossed across her knees and laid her head in her arms. Her hair fell just right and hid her eyes.
Jay and M'redith sat against a wall and Jay wound an arm around her shoulders as she leaned on him.
37 minutes to go.