By the time Vella and Tusk walked into the sparring room, the unnamed was already limbered up and ready for a day of strains, bruises, and humiliations. The big half-orc held his hands out wide as they approached, grinning a toothy grin.
“There he is! Dude, where the heck were you? I thought you’d bombed out or something.”
The unnamed offered a smile.
“Just workin’ through some stuff. Still here though. I’m not going anywhere.”
Vella frowned as she approached him.
“That’s a suspiciously vague answer. Good that you’re gonna stick around though. We’re all entering the run together, remember?”
The unnamed nodded, the memory of his first foray into the maze still vividly fresh in his mind.
“Basic drills,” Leo shouted as he walked into the room. “Punching, kicking, blocking, and throwing. We’re going to combine everything we went through yesterday and build it into a practice routine that I want you to be doing every morning when you step into this room.”
The veteran grabbed two initiates and began demonstrating the way in which he wanted the initiates to practice.
“For those with more advanced hand-to-hand skills, you’re welcome to introduce some more difficult maneuvers. Just make sure there’s a combination of different moves and stances and that you’re actually paying each aspect adequate attention.”
He began walking through the group, pairing initiates off with one another. In contrast to the previous day, Leo chose initiates who were roughly at the same level as one another and, rather than cycling through different partners, he informed the group that they would stay in these pairs from now on unless told otherwise.
The unnamed was paired with a halfling called Hob, who stood only chest high, but who made up for his diminutive statue by boasting a scowl that could strip paint. The halfling didn’t say a word as the unnamed extended a hand and introduced himself, simply scowling in return as they moved into position and began sparring.
After the initial practice session, the initiates were given more advanced hand-to-hand techniques to employ and, true to form, the unnamed struggled to coordinate the new moves. Hob proved much more adept at integrating the changes, seeming to get more and more frustrated with his partner as the unnamed struggled to keep up.
As the day wore on, the unnamed’s mind continued to drift back to the Rat Run. He found himself puzzling through the logistics of the blade chamber and wondering what he would do if a different challenge presented itself on the following day. Record keeping was the key, he decided. If he could keep clear enough records in his journal, he’d be able to assemble some working knowledge of at least a few of the various trials and obstacles presented within the maze.
His hunger grew more intense and the unnamed found his strength flagging as they reached the close of the second day. The group turned their attention to basic techniques with bladed weaponry, practicing with wooden weapons and moving through a few key moves over and over again. Mercifully, the second half of the day consisted more of practicing thrusts and deflections, rather than taking a punch or physically throwing opponents.
It was much easier than the first half of the day, but the unnamed still struggled, his body seeming to actively resist the skills he was being taught by Leo. His mind continued to wander, not only to the Rat Run, but also to the various ways in which training weapons could be restored to good working order, and the sparring chamber’s desperate need of a thorough cleaning.
As the training ended, he offered apologies to Hob for his meagre efforts, to which the halfling simply grunted and strolled off wearing a heavy scowl.
The unnamed flinched as Tusk wrapped a huge arm around his shoulders and squeezed.
“Still hangin’ in there, Custodian Kev?”
The unnamed nodded. “Yeah, barely.”
Vella came walking up beside them, rubbing the back of her neck.
“It’ll get easier. Your body and mind are just getting used to the increased workload. After a few days of this things will start to gel, trust me.”
“Yeah, well, to be honest I should have probably let Hob kill me a few times.” He rubbed his left shoulder, wincing in pain at the bruising he had incurred throughout the day. “Feels like I went ten rounds with a gorilla. At least if I die, the collar will send me back without all the aches and pains.”
Vella leaned forward and tapped his collar, bringing up the display.
“Look, though. You’ve actually got points on the board!”
** RAT RUN INITIATE 012 **
Total Score: 35
Fraternity: 0
Perception: 0
Endurance: 30
Martial Prowess: 5
She threw him a cheesy grin. “See what happens when you don’t die every five minutes?”
He looked at the measly score, weighing it up against the pain he felt in his body and the knowledge that he would be working late into the night completing the following morning’s chores. Then there was the fact that any points he did manage to get during the day would be wiped out the first time he died in the Rat Run the following morning. He wasn’t sure yet exactly how many points he was penalized for each death, but it had to be more than thirty-five points. Plus, he wouldn’t be dying just once. He’d be dying dozens of times as he learned to work his way through the maze.
The unnamed smiled, reflecting that none of this mattered. He’d already decided that his total score at the end of the initial two-week period would be zero. No matter how many points he gained during combat training, they would all be erased while attempting to map out the Rat Run. That was fine. He was confident that he could make up the points in the last week. Confident, even though he didn’t exactly know how he was going to manage that particular feat.
If he entered the run at zero points, but he’d done enough work to miraculously make it through the maze without dying once, then he’d…
He blinked, frowning as he considered the problem a second time.
“What?” Vella asked. “What is it?”
He waved it away. “Nothing, I just…realized how hungry I am.”
“Yeah,” Tusk said, “you missed breakfast. Rookie move dude. You wanna make sure you eat plenty before training otherwise you won’t have any fuel in the tank.”
Vella backed away, making a show of squeezing her nose.
“I think you boys need to hit the showers. No offence, but you stink.”
Tusk lifted an arm and sniffed his armpit, eyes watering as he screwed up his nose.
“Fair.”
They left the training area and headed to the shower blocks, Tusk chatting happily the whole way while the unnamed smiled and nodded in return, his mind miles away. Once he was standing in the shower, letting the hot water soothe his tired muscles, he opened up his collar menu again and began exploring his stats in more detail.
As he suspected, there were additional points that had been applied to perception, endurance, and even martial prowess. Those points had been awarded while he was in the Rat Run, but he hadn’t notice because they had been reduced or wiped out altogether as he repeatedly died. A quick tally revealed that he would have gained five hundred points in the time he’d spent in the maze if he hadn’t died.
** RAT RUN INITIATE 012 **
Total Score: 35
Fraternity: 0 [-10]
Perception: 0 [-480]
Endurance: 30 [-220]
Martial Prowess: 5 [-30]
The unnamed felt a thrill of excitement at that fact. He did some quick math. Assuming it was possible to gain five hundred points in three hours, he’d be able to pick up at least a thousand points in a full day. With seven days to get through the Rat Run, he’d well and truly be able to accrue more than five thousand, even if he died a few times along the way. If he could learn everything he needed to learn and navigate the maze successfully, it would be entirely possible to gain enough points to meet the five-thousand-point threshold.
Starting with a zero score didn’t matter. Neither did the various aches and pains he would sustain during his training. If he could just push himself to continue the way he had started, he was confident he could beat the challenge and secure a place in the Guild.
***
The next few days passed in a blur. For the unnamed, the time spent sparring learning to fight hand to hand and with various training weapons was of little consequence. Likewise, the time he spent doing chores, eating, showering, and going through the motions of guild life fell to the back of his mind.
He became obsessed with the maze, his mind running over different scenarios again and again as he tried to work through the complex obstacles the Rat Run kept putting in his path. The three hours he spent each morning reversing further into the maze network became the most precious time to him.
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The day after his first journey into the maze he returned and found neither the spiders nor the blade chamber. Instead, he was presented with a baffling impossibility. After around twenty feet of stone corridor the maze opened up into a vast, cavernous space where a series of small stone islands hovered in midair above a fathomless abyss. There were around thirty stone islands all hovering in midair and leading in a downward trajectory toward the continuation of the chamber a hundred or so feet ahead of the unnamed.
All of the islands featured a symbol of some kind etched into their stone surface. The symbols were different to those he had seen earlier in the maze. Instead of distorted versions of stick figures these looked more like ancient letters from an extinct language. Each island featured a single letter, a rune mark or perhaps number whose meaning he couldn't decipher.
Closer examination of the chamber confirmed that several of the symbols were repeated here and there further on but the distance between islands with the same symbol was too great to jump. Jumping itself was problematic given that he couldn't see an end to the drop that fell beneath the floating islands.
A quick inspection of the area revealed a few loose chips of stone that the unnamed picked up and used to estimate how far down the fall actually went. He dropped the first stone chip and listened carefully but found no indication that it hit the bottom, no sound to confirm a definitive end to the stone’s journey.
As was his custom, the unnamed made copious notes in his journal and took video footage and still shots of the chamber. He looked around for some clue as to how to proceed but found nothing other than the floating islands, the symbols, and the yawning depths that lay ahead of him.
“Fortune favors the stupid, I guess” he muttered, taking a few steps back and preparing to jump the distance between the corridor end and the closest of the islands.
He launched himself forward, surprised to find that he managed to close the distance with ease. As his feet skittered on the stone that sense of relief turned to panic as the momentum of the jump carried him cleanly off the edge of the island and into the abyss beyond.
He fell, limbs flailing as he screamed involuntarily, air rushing past while he plummeted down into the inky depths below. It took a good ten seconds before he saw anything other than darkness. Once he had gathered himself and stopped screaming, he focused his attention on the darkness below, wondering whether he’d be able to see the end coming or if he was now moving too fast to notice the stone floor rise to meet him with a definitive end. Even here, plunging to his doom, there was something to be learned, some knowledge to be captured that might help him and his companions triumph in their journey through the Rat Run.
As the darkness below took form, what he saw was not dull stone, but rather the harrowing glint of a yellow eye, opening beside the shimmering hint of teeth as he plunged downward. His trajectory was halted suddenly, terminally, and accompanied by the sensation of being pierced through half a dozen times at once.
There was no time to scream and the unnamed couldn’t have managed it anyway. He was skewered a dozen times by teeth as long as swords and the hungry beast began chewing immediately, ending the unnamed’s life to the accompanying sound of squelching and grinding.
He stood once more at the entrance of the maze frowning and looking down at his boots as though they might provide some answers to the horror he had just witnessed. Part of him still remembered the teeth of that gruesome beast crunching through his body. He smelled the reek of the beast’s foul breath, the sound of growling as it devoured him whole.
** CONGRATULATIONS! **
You’ve received the Death Plunge achievement for plummeting to your death.
Achievement Bonus: +1 Plummet
Now fall even faster and meet the sweet embrace of death.
** CONGRATULATIONS! **
You’ve received the Don’t Feed the Animals achievement for providing the darkling horror with a tasty treat.
Achievement Bonus: +1 Tastiness
This bonus adds a little salt and pepper to your body in the event that you die in the mouth of an enemy. Monsters will now find you slightly tastier to eat.
I should point out that none of the beasts and monsters within the Rat Run require sustenance. If you are determined to throw yourself into their mouths, I’d suggest washing first. Just because they’re a snaggle-toothed monstrosity doesn’t mean they want to chew on your sweaty behind.
“Off!” the unnamed said. “Turn the achievement announcements off!”
Please confirm that you’d like to turn the achievement announcements off on your training collar.
“Yes, for flapjack’s sake! Turn them off!”
You do not have adequate system permissions to turn the achievement announcements off.
The unnamed rolled his eyes. He felt like he needed to hit something, hard.
“Can you mute the announcements? Stop them from popping up every time I die?”
You do not have permission to mute announcements on your training collar.
The unnamed rubbed the fingers of one hand against his temples. These achievements were going to be the end of him. There had to be some way to shut the things off, but he was beginning to suspect that this was all part of the test. It was a form of psychological torture, forcing initiates to contend with these inane announcements while they were also trying to navigate the perils of the Rat Run.
“Focus!” he said, reminding himself to push his mind toward what was most important.
He took a breath and entered the Rat Run once more, heading into the chamber with the floating islands. This time he jumped from a few feet back and landed squarely on the closest island. His feet still skidded a little, but he was able to drop to his knees and reach for the stone surface of the island with both hands. He did so at exactly the right time and avoid sliding off the island altogether.
The islands were slightly different in size but most of them were only a few feet in diameter. Now that he was standing on the closest of the islands, the rune etched into its surface glowed with a soft blue light and the chime resounded throughout the chamber, a soft haunting note that sounded like might have come from a flute or some other woodwind instrument.
The unnamed quickly opened up his journal but was unable to record the sound before it stopped. The symbol on which he stood looked a little like the Greek letter Omega, but with additional strokes coming up out of its topmost arc. He looked around to see where the same symbol was replicated and found a small island directly ahead but too far away for him to reach one jump. His only two choices were to return the way he came or jump to the nearest island to his left which featured a different symbol.
It was a risk, he knew, but the goal here was to get as much information as possible not to preserve his life. He needed to find a way through this obstacle as quickly as possible and that meant trying out a range of scenarios quickly and finding the key to the Riddle so that he could record it and move on. Freed from the need to keep himself alive, he flung himself toward the nearest pillar, landing unsurely and slipping once more so that he had to reach out and grab hold of the edge of the island to stop himself from falling off.
He hung for a few moments, clinging to the islands while his legs dangled over the edge of the precipice. A symbol which looked a little like a giraffe glowed bright blue and, once more, a musical tone resounded throughout the chamber. The tone was lower than the first and the unnamed had just managed to climb his way on top of the island when he realized that the stone itself was falling.
Once more the air rushed past him as he plummeted down into the abyss. This time the knowledge of what waited for him at the bottom made him cringe. A single, yellow eye. Glinting teeth the size of elephant tusks. The stench of…
The unnamed felt his body being torn apart a second before he awoke at the entryway to the Rat Run. It was no less disturbing being torn apart by that creature a second time, but he forced himself to go on, thinking through what the dropping stone island might mean.
Maybe, once you’d picked a specific symbol, you had to stick to only islands that had that symbol. Or perhaps he’d just been lucky the first time and only the islands with the omega symbols were stable? There were dozens of possibilities, and he knew that the only way he would find answers was to keep trying different paths forward.
The next three attempts proved his first supposition. Once you picked an initial island and its symbol lit up, you were locked to that path and choosing any other would end in a sticky death. The problem with that was that there was just too great a distance between each of the islands with the same symbols. No matter which path he chose there was no way he could make the second jump. To make matters worse, even if he did manage to leap from the first to the second island successfully, it looked like the distance between the second and third islands with the same symbol was even greater than the distance between the first and second.
“Indiana Jones rules,” he reminded himself, gathering some dust on his next attempt and throwing it onto the void ahead of him to see whether there were invisible paths he could follow between the islands.
Unfortunately, no paths revealed themselves. Even stepping forward and trying to use willpower to believe an invisible bridge into existence didn’t work. As time went on, the unnamed became convinced that he was missing something simple, some key fact that would make sense of the baffling impossibility of the scenario.
He reexamined the individual symbols on each of the stone islands, finding five different runes in total. They all looked different from one another and none of them was instantly recognizable. They weren’t even hieroglyphs, so there was no way to really infer meaning from the shapes and forms represented.
A dozen attempts quickly turned into two dozen. He tried humming the musical note that resounded on reaching the first island, tried to jump from island to island fast enough that he could propel himself forward in spite of their falling. Each time he recorded the details in his journal and tried something new.
He was about to try again when the memory of his brief encounter in the Blood Pits came to mind. He recalled marking out the magic symbol in the sand and that memory sparked an idea.
The unnamed jumped to the omega stone, but this time he bent down and traced the lines of the symbol on the surface of the island, doing so at precisely the same moment the tone rang out around the chamber. Instead of a light blue, the symbol glowed with bright orange light, a thread of luminescence that extended out from the island and ran down to illuminate a smaller floating island which had been invisible a moment before. The new island was comprised of shimmering orange light. It was smaller than the first, but still large enough to jump on to. What’s more, it was positioned in between the first omega stone and the second, close enough that it might be possible to jump across the divide and reach the middle section of the chamber.
The unnamed leaped to the newly revealed island and found it perfectly solid. The previous island still continued to glow with orange light, as the tone sounded once more. A second, previously invisible, island appeared in front of the first luminescent stone, allowing the unnamed to jump forward, now within easy reach of the second original island.
In this manner, by tracing the symbols on the physical stones and jumping onto the newly appearing luminescent islands, the unnamed made his way across the chamber and onto the corridor floor on the other side. By the time he stepped into the corridor he was grinning widely, thrilled at the fact that he’d unlocked the key to one more puzzle and cleared another room in the Rat Run.
** CONGRATULATIONS! **
You’ve received the Little Engine That Could achievement for try, try, trying again and again, and clearing a room after more than twenty unique failed attempts. And by unique, I mean whilst trying new approaches to the problem.
The manner of your death each time was anything but unique, let’s face it. That beastie down below isn’t used to such an initiate heavy diet and he’s in danger of putting on excessive weight.
Achievement Bonus: + 1 Persistence
Now you can try harder, again!
The unnamed ignored the announcement, mentally closing it down and opening up the main section of the collar display. He took the time to carefully note down instructions on how to clear the island chamber, tidying up his previous notes to make it as easy as possible for anyone reading the entries to understand what was required. After finishing the note, he moved up to the top of the journal entry, rearranging the previous details he’d outlined to make three clear sections.
Spider Fountain - Cleared
Blade Chamber – Not Cleared
Abyssal Islands - Cleared
He still had to clear the blade chamber but hoped that he’d be given another opportunity to do so in the future. A quick look at the time confirmed that he had another two hours to spend in the maze before he’d need to attend the day’s training. Two hours would perhaps mean clearing one or two rooms before his time was up. On that basis, he could maybe have notes on thirty or so rooms before he and the others had to head into the Rat Run for real. He had no idea how many different rooms there actually were in the maze, but surely this would help?
As he thought through the possibilities, he re-titled the journal entry, typing in all caps.
THE KNOWLEDGE
This was it. This was something he could offer the others, something valuable that would help the three of them traverse the Rat Run and come out in one piece. It didn’t matter that he was struggling to hold his own in combat training, or that the rest of the initiates might look down on him. That stupid frown Hob wore every time they sparred together didn’t matter either. The truth was, he had the answers, or at least some of the answers, and that was incredibly valuable.
That fact filled him with renewed purpose as he continued through the corridor and on to the next challenge.