Our hurried footsteps echoed back to us as muffled slaps as Jozoic and I rushed down the tunnel. The already closed in feeling of the underground cave network was redoubled by the lack of a breeze and the still hanging dust from the recent stoneshift. It was the difference between a still winter’s day and the inside of a coffin, the difference between airy stillness and eerie silence.

I lit the way ahead with the lamp Lokralda had loaned me, and we disregarded stealth in favor of speed. Kazek had reported that the rival group had abandoned their foothold within our territory, and there was just no way we could sneak up on anyone between my wheezing and Jozoic’s limping gait. We made good time and did not speak, both too focused on listening and looking for the next danger as we marched towards the unknown.

We found signs of the enemy, loose cobbled together barriers in the next main cavern, a number of bloodstains and discarded bandages, even a couple of broken copper and stone tools. I spent the walk between the first cavern and the second by studying my enhanced map and talking things over with Max, who had been surprisingly quiet through the last few minutes.

The map showed that all of the houses had split up and retreated back to their own territories. Everyone other than the Hammertings were struggling to fend off the migration, while they were under less pressure behind their collapsed tunnel. The more I looked, the more I realized that the blocked off tunnel had more consequences than the immediate effect of redirecting the swarm of centipedes. Max answered me before I’d even formed the thought into an actual sentence.

“Since Hammerting blocked off their tunnel, they’re redirecting both the insects and water meant for their side to the Brightenjaw’s. The bugs probably don’t matter much, but the water is critical. If the Hammerting’s water-trap does not fill evenly, it will mess up the delicate balance of pressure that will keep the lower chambers from filling.”

I could see what he meant as he talked me through the overly complex map, running through a number of simulations like some kind of weather forecast. Without the water present in any one of the traps the compressed air would be free to escape once the pressure built up high enough, provided the water kept coming. We could get lucky and there could only be enough water to fill a few of the chambers and not enough to overwhelm the p-traps, but something told me that was unlikely. The elders must have had reasons to design the challenge in such a way, but I couldn’t grasp what they were. It all seemed so overwhelming, an impossible mess of threats that would send all of us back to respawn.

“Are the stairwells still open? Can we divert the swarm in that direction?” I questioned Max internally, wanting to let my brain chew on the water problem for a little longer before I attempted to define it again.

“Yeah, looks like it. It was blocked off about halfway up once all of the rows descended to the trial grounds, but some side passages opened up during the stoneshift that lead off somewhere outside of what I can see. I can see pretty high up with the way the chunks load, nearly to low orbit. I can only see about a half-mile in any horizontal direction down here though, even less through the ground texture unless there are connected caverns and such. My guess is that the stairwells are the designed solution to the migration problem.”

I nodded in reply to his answer, happy to hear one issue might soon be solved. I dropped the conversation with Max once we reached the intersection where we had to choose between moving towards the bismuth room and the higher-up chamber of the squam room. Jozoic finally halted his determined limping. He huffed a couple of times, then spoke in a low voice without looking at me.

“Do you smell that? The air is lightening.”

I raised a finger and made a show of taking a reading of the air with my gauntlet. “Helium?” I asked, treading carefully to not reveal my ill-gained knowledge of the situation.

He jerked his head in a single nod. “Yes.”

“What could cause that?”

“Gas pockets are a common hazard, helium is not common.” He stopped and scratched at the stubble on his chin with an intensity I had only ever seen from a canine before. “I do not understand, are we to choose between drowning or asphyxiation?” He glared up at the ceiling, casting his gaze from side to side along the tunnel like he was seeking out the hidden cameras.

I bit the inside of my cheek and grimaced, wishing I could tell him about the theories Max allowed me to see. I really needed to get better at this sort of thing. I’d always tried to stick to myself and keep people at a distance because of it. I struggled to not speak my mind, and often chose silence rather than attempting the awkward social dance-around-the-subject that was so common. If I let my mouth start running, arguing, and pointing out the obvious bullshit in the room it always turned into fighting and friction. I’d tried to cut it back after being warned multiple times as an occasionally rebellious teen that it could lead to the labor camps if taken too far.

I decided on a cautious reply. “There has to be a solution, we just don’t see it yet. They wouldn’t give us an impossible puzzle. Most classes pass after all, don’t they?”

Jozoic frowned, but also nodded. “That they do. Some don’t though. Perhaps one in fifteen fail entirely. We are forbidden to talk about it… but I have heard rumors.”

He started walking forward again, choosing the path towards the stairwell and the tar room beyond. I stared after him for a moment, wishing someone would have told me that earlier.

We advanced all the way to the block-filled chamber just before the tunnel that led to the tar room, passing through the stairwell room, a myriad of tunnels, and a couple of resource bearing rooms. Jozoic sent a message back to Kazek to tell him the way was clear and about the elevated helium level, and his reply message told us that the main group's retreat was going as planned.

Lokra’s dam was holding, and the scolovian migration was advancing much more slowly while the water was held back by the forge chamber. We all knew that it was only a matter of time before the water spilled over to wash away the dregs of our repellent, and we worked to distract ourselves from that eventuality. Sallis split from the main group at the stairwell to scout for the source of the helium, and Kazek ordered us to watch the door to the tar room and shore up our defenses against the rivals on the far side of it.

Jozoic and I set about stacking and melting blocks together into another line of defense, making bad jokes denigrating the Bassaldourn bastards to pass the time and blow off steam. A few minutes later we were surprised to hear a rhythmic metallic pinging from the direction of the mushroom and tar pit. Four clear notes sounded out before a dwarven voice echoed down the lengthy tunnel.

“Lo! Dwarves of Galidurn! House Hammerting seeks to parlay. We call for Moot!”

Jozoic and I looked at each other. “Now they want to play nice? The cowards. They should have stepped in when the others decided to raid us.” He said, but he kept his voice low enough to not echo back to them.

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I nodded at Jozoic, then cast a glance down the tunnel. I kept my voice low. “Should we talk to them?”

He grunted and spent a long few seconds just staring down the tunnel. “Yes.” He answered, before shouting back down the tunnel. “When?”

His single word echoed back, still slightly muffled by the remnants of the dust in the air. A few breaths later, a reply came back. “The fourth hour of the new day!”

I glanced at the clock built into my HUD, which showed 02:47, then exchanged another look with Jozoic. He pulled a canteen from his inventory and took a long drink before offering the copper vessel to me as he yelled back a final reply. “Acknowledged!”

I sniffed at the bottle, but still couldn't smell anything other than mint. Shrugging, I took a drink as well. The taste of the mineral water inside was refreshing, but something felt off about the experience. A notification popped up along the bottom of my HUD and offered an explanation when I opened it.

WARNING!

Your connection does not allow for the transfer or consumption of goods. Please remember to maintain a healthy life balance while using your TG Personal Link Station™. Take breaks and maintain your fuel intake for maximum enjoyment and potential. Consider upgrading to a TGS series model and purchasing an Impex license for extra features and perks, like direct nutrition and the ability to work your monthly subscription shift from home!

Ba-brrrr!

As soon as I finished reading the message the text box morphed into a cartoony 3D rendering of a crab-like mascot that waved a friendly raised claw. The mascot flashed an uncanny humanesque smile before disappearing with a flash of light and a distant double honk of brassy fanfare. I’d seen a couple other versions of the same somewhat rare logo before, a creation of the public relations division of the haughty minions of the Suk, the Tellagnochi.

“Well… that was gross. I hate those little crab wankers.” Max grumbled.

I ignored him, and the disclaimer about the water. Jozoic took his canteen back and it disappeared into his inventory. I asked, “You wanna message Kazek about it, or should I?”

He shrugged and heaved another block into place. “You do it”, was all he said before he carefully laid down a line of salivated bonding compound on top of the block in preparation for the next.

I watched him for a moment, sensing something was off with the dwarv. He’d never been the most talkative of our group, but had always been serious and forward. He was the first to step up, always wanting to be the first to meet any challenge Chane had thrown at us. He had even been the first to push back on Kazek’s decision making at the start of this whole ordeal. Seeing him acting quiet, contemplative, and giving off an almost angry or sour vibe felt different.

My eyes were again pulled down the tunnel towards the tar pit for a moment. I shook off the worry and opened my HUD and typed up a short message to Kazek.

Kaninak: We have occupied our end of the tunnel to the sportrell cavern. House Hammerting sent an envoy calling for a Moot at 04:00.

I stacked another few stones while I waited for a reply, casting an occasional glance at my quietly fuming companion. Our leader's reply came quickly, not even a minute later.

Kazek: Good, we will attend. Maintain your position.

I frowned at the message, unsure of why its briefness bothered me but bothered nonetheless. Unfortunately, there was not much I could do about it other than do my work and wait to see how it played out. All I could do was keep an eye on the map and continue building up what felt like our final redoubt.

Most of the rest of the group joined us nearly half an hour later, other than Bomilik and Kikkelin. Those two had been left near the stairwell chamber, our last sentry post to ensure that the tide of centipedes found the stairwell and did not continue on to find us in the lower depths of the trial grounds. My map showed them loitering in the area, and the scolovian still held back by the lines of repellant. There were a few new markers as well, a half dozen highlighted areas where the main party had laid down more mounds to hold back the water during their retreat.

My hands continued my work while my eyes watched the map. I zoomed it out and spun it around to see the situation from every angle. I could sense Max in the background, like he was watching over my shoulder, but he stayed quiet as I took in the situation.

It looked like House Hammerting was the strongest group currently, with all 17 of their initiates still present and spread out between their corner of the tar room and their forge room. The two raiding groups had taken losses and were still struggling to hold their vent rooms from the tide of insects. Bassaldourn was down to 10 dwarves, while Rocksturdy had 12.

House Brightenjaw had mirrored our movements and was down to 9 remaining members that had all retreated down to the lowest chambers. Hammerting’s blocked off tunnel had forced the entire scolovian migration from their dividing gorge to attack the Brightenjaws, and they had lost quite a few of their number when the first wave of giant centipedes surprised them in their forge room.

I reached out to Max with a question after my study of the map. “Hey, won’t the water from the Hammertings’ far entrance to the gorge on their border with the Bassaldourn block their, uh, P-trap?”

“Didn’t I explain that already? Ugh, you were thinking some pretty good thoughts there, and this is your conclusion?” He appeared in my peripheral vision, sitting on top of the half-complete block wall. “The water will fill–and it’ll keep the helium out–but the pressure difference will blow it out of there like a plug and let the water crash into the lower chambers from the other four directions.”

He scratched at his chin with his weirdly realistic hand, and then let out a big sigh. “I’ll try to put it in some terms you might actually grasp. It’s like… imagine a five sided seesaw with five dudes who all weigh the same, sitting in perfect level balance. As long as nothing changes, none of their feet dip into the shark infested waters below them.

Now, give each of them two twenty pound dumbbells, two streams of water adding weight to each side evenly. As long as all of them hang on to their weights, nothing happens, everything stays the same. The water plugs are each under equal pressure from the water column pushing them down. The seesaw’s struts flex and everyone gets closer to the water, but no one goes under. You following me so far?”

He paused and I looked over at him, momentarily stunned by his sincere sounding explanation. He wasn't talking down at me or demanding I just trust him, he was actually attempting to explain something with an analogy I could follow. I glanced at his avatar and gave him a nod before turning and picking up the next block.

“Good, because the rest is simple. What happens when one of the guys drops one of his weights? I tell you h’what happens; he goes up and the far side drops down. One gets eaten by the shark, and the guy who dropped the weight finds out that the ceiling is full of helium and that he can't even breathe up there. Everyone panics, bails, and gets eaten.”

He winked back out of existence but continued speaking. “It only works if everyone can hold the weight, and wait it out. There are only 20 hours left until the trial is over, but you’ll all drown in half the time unless you can convince Hammerting to pick that weight back up and rebalance the seesaw.”

I thought I grasped what he meant, but talking the strongest House into giving up their held ground for the good of the rest of us seemed like a problem. A stronger party giving in to the demands of those weaker than them was a fairytale where I came from, and forming a coalition with the two clans that had just raided us to have the numbers to force the issue seemed like a real tall order.

“Well… dammit.” I thought to myself.

Max laughed somewhere in the back of my mind. “You might be able to dam yourselves off into some corner, but you’d need a supply of oxygen.”

I scowled at the next stone block while he laughed some more. He knew that was not what I meant. Ignoring his mirth, I returned to my work and my worry.