Chapter 186
For a time there was no light and the screams around him increased both in pitch and volume. In the darkness however Jay could sense that the angle of their descent had decreased and was continuing to do so.
A point of light ahead of them rapidly grew in size as they approached it. Suddenly and without warning they exited the tunnel and flew unceremoniously in to a snarled tangle of vines that had covered the far end of the room.
They each landed with a muffled sound as they struck the vines and were safely brought to a stop. Their belongings became tangled in the vines as well before falling to the ground. Due to the high speed of their exit from the tunnel they were all a bit tangled up and were slowly winding their way through the many rope like vines.
It was slow going but would work out fine just so long as everyone worked patiently through the forest of vines.
Carly gave an exasperated sigh and drew her knife. If she couldn't unwind herself then she'd cut herself free.
"No, don't!” Bess yelled. Carly gave Bess a sardonic look and continued moving to cut a vine.
“That's lash-vine!” Cory said in a tone of voice that meant 'don't say I didn't warn you when that ends up hurting.'
The word 'lash' got through to her just as her knife made its first cut. She had stopped too late.
The mound of vines shook and a vine rapidly unwound and shot out at Carly. It struck her across the face and left an angry looking red welt diagonally across it. She pulled her knife back reflexively and used her free hand to hold her now injured face.
She quickly sheathed her knife and let out a single frustrated scream. The children all went quiet and watched her with wide eyes.
Then she took a deep breath and let it out. She returned to slowly untangling herself from the vines with a furious look on her face but refused to say anything about it.
Eventually the others all went back to untangling themselves. The show was over apparently.
Jay stood up and managed to pull himself away from the curtain and snarl of vines. He bent over to pick up his staff. Unless it had been strapped to them at the time of their fall they had all dropped whatever they had been holding on their way down. Everyone took a moment to retrieve their belongings.
Carly was last out of the snarl of vines and refused to meet anyone's eye. She looked incredibly frustrated and Jay couldn't understand why. Part of the red welt across her face had turned an angry shade of purple, like a bruise.
No one had told her to cut the vines, she had decided that all on her own. Was it that big of a surprise that a living thing in a 'ruin slash baby dungeon' might be able to defend itself?
Everyone, children and Carly included, turned to Jay now that they had all retrieved their belongings after they had struggled free of the vines.
It was an odd feeling for Jay to feel like the most experienced person in the group. It was quite disconcerting to have others all depending on him.
Jay looked about the room just as the children began to calm down enough to want to start exploring. Jay could tell they were ready for more just by the way they all fidgeted with their belongings. Jay had them hold off while he looked for traps.
The room had a tunnel a few feet off the ground that came out of one wall. That was how they had entered the room. Across from it on the other side of the room was a massive curtain and snarl of vines which had thankfully stopped them from hitting the wall behind it.
The only other feature in the room was a large set of double doors, rounded at the top. They had pictures of lizards carved in to it. The lizards were all sitting in flames and...smiling? They all seemed to enjoy the heat from the flames that had been carved around them.
The doors did not have handles however. Nothing to grasp. He couldn't see any hinges but that didn't mean the door wouldn't open inward. He knew of at least two ways of doing so without even thinking too hard about it.
A sign had been hung on the wall over the double doors. It was in cursive and read, “By Five They Come, Their Hands As One”
Jay thought that was a dead giveaway. It basically told him how to open the door. A good hint should point the way towards the answer without coming right out and saying. This hint was a bit too obvious but possibly perfect for a group of children. Jay decided to let them take a shot at solving the hint.
Carly read the the sign and went to speak but Jay interrupted her before she could say anything. “Let's ask the children what they think. How about you Bess? Ideas?” Jay asked with a warm smile.
Bess read the words and looked unsure of herself.
“You can talk among yourselves, that's allowed,” Jay offered with an upturned palm.
Bess leaned over and whispered something to Neiman who nodded before he nudged Cory in the side and asked him a brief question. Cory nodded and Bess looked back up at Jay.
“I think it means we all have to touch the door at the same time.” Bess said in a tone of voice that was more question than statement. The two children next to her both nodded seriously.
“Are you sure? Could it mean something else?” Jay asked Neiman.
Neiman shook his head. “It could mean anything but it most likely means what Bess said. What else could we all do with our hands that would help open the door?”
Jay smiled and nodded, “That sounds like a really good guess. You all want to give it a try?”
Everyone gathered in front of the door and reached out their hands to touch the door.
Nothing happened.
“What do you think we did wrong?” Jay asked the children as they all pulled back and formed a huddle without meaning to.
Cory spoke up first, “Some of us didn't use our entire hand, just our finger.”
He didn't say who but everyone knew who it would be.
Carly sighed again. “Lets try one more time,” she said.
Everyone reached out and again touched the door. This time they each pressed the palms of their hands flush against the door's surface.
A loud clanking could be heard as bolts they could not see but could certainly hear were pulled back from the inside of the door and in to their recessed holes in the wall. Each produced a sharp crack as the bolt slammed in to the open position. The huge wooden doors swung open. As they did so Jay could see that the doors were indeed massive and were each roughly a foot thick.
It took longer than Jay had anticipated for the massive doors to gradually swing open – inward. As they did so Jay was able to see the shape of the door along with the locking mechanisms. He studied the bolt devices attached to the door as the group walked in to the next room.
Once they were just inside of the new room the doors began to close. There was nothing the group could do about it – the doors were far too heavy and strong to stop from closing. With a clanking they could hear the bolt mechanisms reengage.
“Well. Looks like we're here until we finish,” Jay said as he turned away from the door and gave the new room a once over.
It was a rectangular room longer than it was wide. The end they had entered through was along the shorter wall. The wall across the room from it also had a door – a single closed door different from the massive double doors they had entered through.
In the middle of the room a circle had been painted on the floor in yellow paint with the center of the circle located in the center of the room itself. The circle was thirty feet wide and at the center stood a podium with a fat glowing chest on it. It was protected by a shimmery transparent orb that completely surrounded it.
“Don't touch anything,” Jay said without looking at anyone in particular but all of the children turned to look at Carly who looked away. “Also, don't move from the entryway until I clear for traps.”
Although they had done this a number of times already Jay knew that it was important to repeat himself in each room to prevent a repeat of Carly's earlier behavior. Carly and Jay had both learned a valuable lesson that time. He had been pleasantly surprised at how the children had handled themselves so far. He hadn't expected Carly to be the weakest link.
Jay grunted at the realization that he considered Carly to be the weakest link. That had been a surprise. He had thought her to be far more capable than she had turned out to be. He shook his head and focused on what he should be doing instead.
He scanned the room in a line pattern as he carefully walked back and forth. The longer it went on the more nervous he became. He was sweating by the time he gave the all clear.
“Why are you sweating?” Carly asked after he had told them the room was safe. “There weren't any traps.”
“Stress? Searching for traps is stressful even when there aren't any – especially when you don't know if there is a trap out there or not. Any moment you could set a trap off – it eats at you.” Jay tried to explain but failed to express how it actually felt. Unless you were doing it you just couldn't understand how brutal it could be on one's mind and body.
“Come on everyone, let's gather up in the center.” Jay said as the sound of stone grinding against stone echoed throughout the room. Above them rays of sunlight suddenly streamed down in to the room.
“You all having fun?” Victor called down from above them.
“We solved the riddle!” Cory yelled up excitedly.
“You did? You sure Jay or Carly didn't help you out with it?” Victor said to the group below him.
Cory shook his head before he remembered that Victor might not be able to see him very well. “Nope! Jay let us solve it!” Cory said proudly.
“Well good job! I'm proud of you! Now for the main event! Your ring event! You can see the treasure there in that fat chest. There's a trick to that chest though – it gets smaller and loses items from inside it if is attacked.” Victor explained as he yelled through the metal grating that separated him from the others.
Everyone paused as they considered the setup. They would have to protect the chest or lose their loot. That changed things. Up until then their only thought had been to not get hit. The thought of losing loot however changed things drastically. They had to not just fight off their enemies – they had to stop them from getting past them. That would be significantly tougher.
“I can hear by your silence that you are all realizing how that might change things for you. I'll give you a moment to work through that.” Victor said and then went quiet.
The group could hear the sounds of crackling as if paper were being crinkled. It was followed by the unmistakable sound of chewing. Maybe crackers. Or cookies.
“Are you eating again!” Bess yelled up at the metal grating.
“No!” Victor lied in reply. “But now that you're done thinking deep thoughts I can continue. You have to fight waves of 'monsters' until there are no more. Each wave you defeat adds loot to the treasure chest! Should you defeat everything that the ring event sends your way then the force-field around the treasure chest will deactivate and you will all get to have some treasure!”
The children all made excited noises and Carly smiled at their behavior. People loved loot no matter what their age might be.
“I want to warn you on the loot however. This dungeon rewards only common items – that is white rank common rarity items. So don't get too excited, ok? There's a reason this place is called the Pointless Ruins – this dungeon can feel a bit pointless, loot-wise anyway.” Victor said in a sorry sounding tone of voice.
Carly looked uninterested in common rarity loot but smiled at the excitement of the children who were no less excited than they had been before. The thought of earning a bit of dungeon loot, even if it was more ruins than dungeon, even if the loot were common, was like a siren song to the children and they were unable to resist the call of treasure.
“In summary, fight monsters. Monster touches treasure chest you lose loot. Clear a wave and earn more loot. Beat everything and you get the treasure chest with whatever loot you managed to earn. Questions?” Victor yelled.
The children all looked at each other before they looked back up at the metal grating in the ceiling and shook their heads no.
Jay, who knew that Victor could barely see them through the grate called up to him, “One question, how do we start it?”
Victor laughed, “Figure it out!”
He refused to answer any other questions and all the group could hear above them were paper rustling and chewing.
“Looks like we're on our own,” Carly said, speaking for what seemed like the first time in a while.
Jay looked at her but didn't say anything before he began to inspect the pedestal on which the treasure chest sat. The pedestal itself wasn't protected by the force-field bubble, just the chest. Jay walked around the pedestal and noticed three round buttons hidden in the scroll work that decorated its surface.
The buttons were the size of a man's palm and perfectly circular in shape. Each bore an inscription. On the first were raging flames. On the second, blades of grass. On the third, snow descending from thick clouds. The buttons were also colored, red, green, and blue, respectively.
Jay didn't get the feeling that the buttons were the right idea.
“I'm going to touch something. Everyone get ready to fight.” Jay said and the rest of the group spread out around the treasure chest and readied their weapons. Jay waited another couple of seconds until he was sure that everyone was ready. He reached out and pressed the first button he had found, the red flames.
The button didn't depress or click or light up or make any sounds. It did nothing. Just as Jay thought it might. He thought about other hidden techniques he had used throughout the dungeon. There was only one that really fit the circumstances.
“Everyone come here – I think we all have to put our palms against the pedestal – or the force-field, I'm not sure which.” Jay offered.
“You're really not selling me on it,” Carly said with a smile.
Jay sighed but didn't respond. Carly frowned before she smoothed her face in to stillness.
The children missed the byplay completely and gathered without question.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Ok, now.” Jay said and they all put their palms on the pedestal.
Nothing happened.
“How about the force-field? Now.” Jay said and they all placed their hands on the bubble that protected the treasure chest.
A loud deep ringing echoed throughout the room, its source unknown. The ringing was more gong than bell and as it sounded a deep voice intoned,
“By five they come, their hands as one.”
As the voice and ringing faded a light female voice said simply, “Wave 1 incoming...”
Shapes began to form along the edge of the circle that had been drawn on to the ground. Each was roughly fifteen feet away from the center and low to the ground. The shapes were bright white with a rainbow of twinkling colors dispersed throughout the shape. Each shape of brightness rearranged itself until it bore an uncanny resemblance to a three foot long lizard.
It was a moment before the bright shapes had all turned in to deep green lizards. The group was quickly surrounded by lizards and four of them broke ranks and slowly began to walk towards the group.
Jay looked at the group and realized that they had all bunched up around Jay as if seeking comfort. Jay knew it was a normal psychological reaction to combat that needed to be trained out of a person. Rather then order them about Jay instead explained things to the children.
“We're all bunched up. Some lizards could get by us. Also, an area attack could hurt all of us if we bunch up like this. Being bunched up doesn't make things safer – it makes the situation even more dangerous.” Jay explained.
He didn't tell them to spread out. He didn't direct who should go where. He simply told them what would happen if they didn't move. Thankfully the children quickly understood and spread out.
Carly stayed near Jay until he politely asked her to cover the opposite side of the treasure chest. She nodded and moved to the new spot. Jay was now facing the doors they had entered through. Carly was facing the door they would leave through. The treasure chest on the pedestal stood between them. The children spread out in between the two adults. Neiman covered one side while Bess and Cory covered the other.
The lizards moved very slowly and the children were easily able to club them to death with their weapons. As the lizards died the exploded in to a little firework of motes of light before the motes themselves dissipated in to nothing.
The lizards also made an incredibly satisfying pop sound every time one was defeated, which was nice.
After the first four lizards had been dispatched the number doubled – to eight. The children seemed a bit more stressed that time as all eight lizards approached at once. They rarely attacked unless one stood in front of their mouths or too close to their whip like tails.
Jay's entire group managed to defeat the eight lizards with a bit of extra running around.
The next group had too many lizards for Jay to count so he stopped trying and instead focused on popping lizards. Jay whipped his staff back and forth as he struck lizards over and over again. He could sometimes even kill one with a single blow.
The children had less luck and really had to deliver a bit of a beating before a lizard would go down. With the huge influx of targets Jay and Carly were forced to either help out or let lizards go past them.
Jay chose to fight as did Carly. It seemed like she had finally decided to help out.
A scream came from off to Jay's side and he saw that Bess had been injured. She had a red welt on her hand where a tail whip from one of the lizards had managed to hit her. Thankfully she had held on to her staff and used it to deliver the killing blow.
“Can you keep fighting?” Jay called over just as a light female voice interrupted him.
“Wave 1 complete. Additional item added to loot pool! 30 seconds to Wave 2...”
Bess blinked, “I think so but it burns.”
Jay shook his head, “I'm not a healer, neither is Carly. If you can fight through it we can get you a healer after we finish.”
Bess swallowed and rubbed the hand before she snatched her other hand away. It hurt. “I'll fight,” she said but she looked like she would cry. She wasn't even a teenager yet but hid her pain as well as she could.
Jay nodded and walked over to her to inspect the wound. It didn't look too bad but he was certain that it hurt like a bag of bee stings. “Your first combat wound – and it's a good one. You can be proud of it when you tell others how you got it – fighting.”
Bess looked thoughtful at that. She hadn't previously considered wounds as a source of pride but was now reconsidering. Her face was still pinched a bit from the pain but her expression had changed. She looked intent now, focused, and although she winced as she held her staff she refused to quit even after Jay offered her the opportunity, twice.
“Fifteen seconds until Wave 2...” a breathy female voice informed them out of nowhere.
The rest of the group had listened silently as Jay and Bess discussed her wound. The other children looked nervous and excited all at the same time. Bess looked resolute. Carly looked upset, which Jay could almost understand based on her actions so far.
Silence filled the vast room as the seconds ticked down. There was nothing else to say but 'fight.'
“Wave 2 incoming...” the female voice informed them.
This time the same thing happened, glowing shimmery clouds slowly changed shape in to lizard like forms but this time there were two kinds. The normal three foot long green lizards and the larger two foot tall lizards, orange in color.
Jay called out quickly before they all finished shaping themselves. “Children focus on the green lizards, adults only on the orange lizards!”
Jay ran forwards as soon as the lizards had all formed and began to walk towards the center. He immediately destroyed the first orange lizard he could find through the simple action of hitting it as hard as he could with his staff, over and over again.
The orange ones made a louder and sharper pop sound when they died and disappeared in to motes of light. From off to the side he heard rhythmic popping sounds. He turned to see Neiman destroying green lizards quickly and to the beat of music that only Neiman could hear in his head. The children on the other side of the treasure chest joined in and tried to pop the lizards to the same beat.
Jay and Carly ran back and forth from every side of the treasure chest as they battled the larger orange colored lizards. They took quite a beating and would have been a bit much for one child to handle. A group of the children would have easily handled one, but that would have left no one to handle the green lizards.
The group took a brief moment to catch their breath before more lizards approached them. This time they were moving faster, perhaps too fast for the group.
Jay began to not only kill the orange lizards but every green lizard he could see as well. Popping sounds filled the room as bursts of motes of light appeared around the circle area the group fought in.
The children sped up as well but were fine doing so. They hadn't been fighting as hard as they could up until then but were now forced to focus on their combat. The lizards might be easy but they were also dangerous, and numerous.
Lizards popped left and right and soon they had dealt with all the lizards that had approached them. There was a brief pause for them to breath deeply a few times and then the rest of the lizards that lined the edges of the circle all approached at the same time.
There were a lot of them, but mostly greens. Jay quickly went through his side and cleared the green lizards out before he went to work on his orange lizards. Once done he moved to the side to help Bess and Cory. They had two people to his one and managed to almost completely clear out the greens.
Jay went to work on the few orange lizards on their side and with the children's help managed to clear their side.
Meanwhile Carly and Neiman cleared their sides completely.
“Wave 2 cleared. Additional item added to loot pool! 30 seconds until Wave 3...” the female voice said in what sounded almost like excitement.
“That's two more items we get!” Cory called out excitedly.
Carly laughed, not unkindly. “Don't count your treasure until you open the chest!”
Jay laughed in spite of not wanting to. “Ok, that's actually not bad advice,” he admitted.
“Wave 3 incoming...” the female voice called out.
The shapes appeared again along the edges of the circle. As they appeared they glowed but did not resolve in to monsters.
“The buttons!” Bess called out and Jay turned around to see that the three buttons on the pedestal was now glowing.
A lizard shape resolved in to an actual three foot long green lizard. This time it did not wait but immediately headed towards the treasure chest, fifteen feet away. It moved lightning quick and was past Cory before he could even hit it. Thankfully Bess was right behind him and managed to hit it. It popped in to motes of light.
Two more lizards shot out from the edge of the circle and towards the center. Carly killed one with a blow from her staff just as Neiman cut his in half with his sword.
“There's red fire, green grass, and blue snow – what do we need?” Jay yelled out as they continued killing lizards. There was one more lizard than last time every wave of lizards and the group was growing overwhelmed.
One shape in particular had grown quite large and continued to grow at the edge of the circle across from Jay but it was still changing shape so Jay ignored it and focused on the little lightning quick green lizards that kept trying to shoot past him.
“I've no idea!” Carly yelled back. The children weren't all that helpful either except for Bess.
“Lizards love heat! Don't do fire!” Bess yelled in a pleading tone from off to his side.
“Got it! Fire bad!” Jay said as he reached out to touch a button.
If fire was good for Lizards then cold must be bad for them. Jay knew from school that lizards were cold blooded. They needed warmth to survive. A snowstorm would not be a good environment for them – they'd slow down considerably.
As another green lizard made a popping sound a vast number of lizards suddenly formed around them. Too many. There was no way they'd be able to get them all.
“Whatever you're going to do, do it now!” Carly yelled from the other side of the treasure chest.
Jay reached out and pressed his palm against the blue snowstorm button.
Immediately gusting wind could be heard and a cloud rapidly formed above them. Snow instantly began to fall and the temperature in the room plummeted.
One second it was 80F. The next it was 60F. One second later it had dropped to 25 degrees Fahrenheit. The group could see their breath in the air and the children all hooted in glee.
Jay and Carly quickly became cold but the children's youth alone was enough to keep them warm for a time.
The lizards fared the worst and they instantly slowed to barely a crawl as snow pooled on the ground around them. The snow fell in little clumps and quickly accumulated.
“Don't just stand there, get them!” Jay yelled as no one had yet moved. That was enough to shake the group out of their thoughts and they all attacked the crowd of lizards. There were many, too many. They would have been overrun if it hadn't been for the snow.
The green lizards were all gone and for a moment nothing happened. They all breathed deeply and tried to relax before the next group. All that were left around the edge of the circle were orange lizards and a large cloud that had yet to resolve in to a creature.
The orange lizards attacked at once but were hindered by the extreme cold. They moved lethargically in an attempt to reach the treasure chest but none of them would ever reach it. Jay's group methodically worked through them one at a time until there were none left.
The snow had calmed down a bit and was now only a light flurry. The snow on the ground had accumulated to almost two inches by that time and everyone had to be careful of their footing or risk slipping and sliding to the ground – right where the lizards could get them.
They had defeated every monster except for one, and as they watched the cloud of white and rainbow sparkles resolved in to a squat lizard the size of a crocodile. It slowly began to claw its way through the snow and towards Jay and the treasure chest behind him.
Neiman ran towards the creature's side and Jay shouted, “No!”
Thankfully Neiman stopped in time just as a whip like tail flew through the air where his head would have been if he had ignored Jay's warning. Neiman quickly backed up.
Jay didn't think but strode towards the monster and engaged it. There were children behind him. And Carly. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he let those kids get hurt. So he stood between the monster and the children – there were no other options.
Jay clubbed it repeatedly in the head but they seemed to do little to no damage to the creature. He went for the eye with a poke but a nictitating membrane slid over the eye protectively before he could even make contact with it.
Jay did something he would normally never do in combat as it left him wide open for a counter attack. He whirled the staff over his head twice before he brought it crashing down on one of the lizards front legs.
The group heard an awful crunching sound and the lizard roared – not something that lizards could normally do. The lizard tried to drag itself forward but did so a little crookedly without the aid of one of its front legs.
The snow had stopped and the room felt as if it were getting warmer.
“We're running out of time,” Jay said, “any ideas?”
“How so?” Carly asked as she tried to attack the lizard from the side. A whip of its narrow tail stopped her short.
“That thing is going to become lightning quick once it warms up!” Jay yelled.
Carly and Neiman managed to bait the lizards tail repeatedly which kept it too busy to focus on Jay. He repeated his earlier strike but did not manage to disable the lizard's other front leg. He reset the staff's position to give it another try.
The snow had now melted and the room had almost returned to its normal temperature.
The lizard lowered its head and began to paw at the ground with its back legs.
Suddenly one of Jay's abilities triggered. One that he rarely if ever used. He quickly remembered the ability and tried to decide what to do. He only had seconds.
Fancy Footwork (uncommon) – During combat when any enemy prepares to use a special ability the area of that ability's effect will be highlighted on the ground in red. The highlighted portion is only visible to the caster and indicates where an ability will do damage once it completes. Once the ability executes the highlighted portion will disappear.
A thick red line roughly three feet wide had appeared between the lizard and the treasure chest. Jay was in the way. That line meant the lizard was about to use a damaging special ability and that it was aimed at Jay – as well as the treasure chest.
Jay could move. If he did so however the lizard would certainly strike the treasure chest. Jay quickly hunkered down in a squat. He used one foot to trap one end of his staff and dug it in to the ground as best he could. The other end he pointed at the lizard, the staff held almost, but not quite, parallel to the ground.
It was a good idea – if you had a spear, or a pike. Or training. Jay had none of those things and had chosen to try and stop the lizard. It wasn't a smart idea. Jay had become too focused on the game mechanics and had forgotten that he could be hurt, even killed and given a complete character wipe.
Carly saw what was happening and acted without thought. She saw what Jay was doing and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it wouldn't work. She ran over to Jay and tried to push him out of the way just as she aimed at the approaching lizard and triggered her class ability, over and over and over.
She struck Jay at an odd angle and managed to get him halfway out of the red line that indicated where the lizard's special ability would trigger. She didn't know that, only Jay could see the red indicator line. What she did manage to do was place her and Jay partially in the path of the lizard.
The monster's ability triggered just after Carly's.
The lizards appearance smudged as the light that made up its appearance streaked forwards too fast to see.
As it did so a veritable cloud of falling stars shot out from Carly and towards the monster's fast approaching form. Carly looked sick and clutched at her stomach as her mana bottomed out and reached empty. Mana-sickness made her stomach roil and she tried hard not to throw up.
It looked as if the lizard would win – it was huge and fast and violent. Whereas Carly's stars seemed almost lackadaisical in their movements. They quickly met a few feet away from Jay and Carly and there was a loud series of pops as bits of the lizard's streaking form made out of light was suddenly met the field of stars.
Each star burrowed in to the creature before they exploded in to more stars which then themselves exploded. Bits of the lizard were blown clear of its body as miniature explosions rippled across its form. Again and again.
The children watched with open mouths as the destruction raged through the lizard's body. As the explosions stopped so did the lizard's movements.
Its forward momentum caused it to slide along the ground until it bumped up against Jay's left boot and it came to a stop.
With a deafening pop the large lizard exploded in to motes of light that swirled in the air like snow as they slowly dissipated in to nothing.
“Wave 3 cleared. You have cleared the ring event, congratulations! You may now collect your reward!” said the female voice excitedly.
With a sharp pop the force-field around the treasure chest disappeared.