The unnamed walked toward the next chamber as the sound of movement spilled into the corridor. He tilted his head to one side, listening for clues in the strange gurgling, rumbling noise. There was a peculiar rhythm to the sound, punctuated every now and then by what almost sounded like belching.
“What the heck is that?” Tusk said, sidling up next to the unnamed. “Sounds like we’re about to walk into a giant stomach.”
The unnamed nodded. Tusk was right. The various gurgling sounds reminded him of an empty stomach, but the chamber beyond wasn’t wet or flesh-colored. Instead, all they could see were mounds of trash. The room was filled with pieces of scrunched-up paper, broken furniture, and a wide range of other objects all cluttered together by the entry point.
The walls to either side were relatively close, and the unnamed could see the edges of a large metallic face on the far side of the chamber. It wasn’t all visible, but he could make out horns and a pair of arched eyebrows above yellow eyes that were ringed with angry red lines. It looked a little like a giant Balinese Barong mask, or an oni mask from Japan. The facial features were all exaggerated, drawn with heavy lines and boasting vibrant colors.
“I take it you haven’t encountered this room before?” Vella said.
He shook his head. “No. Nothing like this. Just seems like the room is covered in garbage.”
Tusk grunted. “Could be a trash compactor kind of scenario? Star Wars style.”
The unnamed turned to the nearest wall. It was fashioned from the same dull gray stone as elsewhere in the maze, but that didn’t mean that the walls wouldn’t start closing in the moment they stepped foot inside the chamber. Odds were that was exactly what this room was about.
He pointed to the distant face on the opposing wall.
“I’d say our exit is over there, beneath that face, or maybe inside it.”
Tusk squinted as Vella stood on tiptoes, trying to get a clear look at the large, metallic face on the other side of the chamber.
“Blueberry cheesecake with extra whipped cream! You think the exit is near that thing?”
“Maybe beneath it,” the unnamed confirmed. “I think Tusk’s right though. The second we step foot inside this room, the walls will start closing in. We’re gonna have to get to the other side without getting crushed.”
Vella shook her head.
“With all this junk in the way? That won’t be easy. I see a lot of sharp edges there, and do you see that?”
She pointed toward a mysterious canister lying on top of a pile of old newspapers. It was metallic in construction, around the size of a soda can and painted plain gray except for two angry-looking green stripes through the middle. Thin trails of noxious smoke spiraled upward from a crack at the top of the canister. Among the host of acrid smells emanating from the trash pile, the unnamed was sure he could smell the green smoke even from his place in the entry corridor, the reek of chemical waste.
“Another one over there,” Tusk said, pointing off to the other side of the room.
As the unnamed surveyed the chamber ahead of him, it was clear that, no matter which path they took to get to the doorway, they’d be passing close to at least two of those canisters. Based on his experiences in other chambers with similar-looking green gasses, he guessed that the noxious substance inside would act like acid on their skin. Even getting close would cause blisters to bubble, or worse. They could suffocate. Their insides could boil. There were a dozen ways this could go very badly.
And then there was the trash.
“Okay, so we need to clear a path to the door and somehow avoid those canisters,” he offered. “Any of you have something that can help with the situation?”
Vella shook her head. “Nothing I can think of.”
“I got natural resistances,” Tusk offered. “I might be able to last a bit longer than you guys if we get too close to the nasty, but it’s only a resistance boost. It’ll still kill me eventually.”
Vella pointed toward the back of the room. “And we’re assuming that the demon mask up there will actually lead us out of here. What if we fight our way through to it and then find out it’s not a door, or there’s something else we need to do to clear the room?”
The unnamed nodded. She was right, of course. There was no guarantee that reaching the mask would get them through the chamber. There was also no guarantee that the gas rising from those canisters wasn’t so potent that it didn’t scramble their brains or suffocate them after a few steps.
Too many risks and too many unanswered questions.
“Okay,” he said, “I’m doing this one alone. Chances are I’ll die pretty fast, but at least I’ll be able to see what we’re up against. You two should stay here, and if I die, you’ll be able to see what happened, and then we can make a plan.”
Vella shook her head. “But then you’ll need to run all the way back here and…”
“Maple syrup!” Tusk shouted, turning wide-eyed to the unnamed. “Dude! I’ve got it!”
The others frowned, waiting for the half-orc to continue. He rolled his eyes in frustration, motioning toward the room ahead of them.
“It’s a chamber full of trash, and you’re a custodian! You’re basically designed for this kind of thing! You came into Havenspire with that as your class, so surely you’ve got something there that can help? Some kind of sweeping spell or whatever?”
The unnamed was about to protest when a memory returned of the last time he checked his custodian tattoo. He paused, checked his tattoo, and tapped the skin. The others stared down at his tattooed arm as he read through his stats.
** NEW RANK ADVANCEMENT: RANK 1 **
** SERVICE CLASS TALLY **
Rank: 1
Class: Custodian
Meticulousness: 1
Efficiency: 1
Persistence: 1
Courtesy: 0
** SPECIAL SKILLS **
Broom Mastery: 2
Mending Touch: 0
Trash Whisperer: 1
Sanitized Aura: 0
Clean Sweep: 0
“Dude!” Tusk said. “This is wild. You got mad cleaning skills.”
The unnamed snorted. “Yeah. Just what I always wanted. Who wants to be a superhero when you can clean good?”
That brought rumbles of laughter from the half-orc, but Vella was focusing intently on the tattoos. She pointed to the special skills section.
“Some of these could he useful. If we had a broom handy, you could maybe sweep us a path through the chamber.”
The unnamed nodded. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right. He clicked on the microphone button and spoke directly to the AI.
“Can you tell me if any of my custodian abilities would help me clear the chamber ahead?”
Custodians have a range of abilities which can be employed to clear rooms filled with trash such as this. Of particular note are the Clean Sweep and Sanitized Aura abilities.
A short description of each of the abilities showed up on the display.
Clean Sweep
Level 1: Removes small to medium debris in a ten-foot radius and provides a small boost to speed when walking through cleaned areas.
Sanitized Aura
Level 1: Reduces the duration of minor negative status effects like poison or disease by half.
“Holy ham sandwich!” Tusk blurted. “You see that, dude? Fifty percent. That’s better than my natural resistance.”
The unnamed nodded. “I don’t know how to activate it though, and the green stuff coming off those canisters might not be poison.”
“Still better than nothing,” Tusk insisted, leaning toward the display and speaking too loud and too slowly. “Collar. Tell us how to trigger the Sanitized Aura ability.”
The unnamed rolled his eyes, but to his surprise, the AI responded to Tusk’s request.
The Sanitized Aura ability has both a passive and at-will component. Given your current level, you are only able to access the spell’s passive ability.
Vella nodded. “Okay. What about this Clean Sweep ability? Might make it easier to get through the room if you could clear away a bunch of this garbage.”
Clean Sweep is an at-will ability which allows a custodian to clean and remove debris or obstacles in a given area. As this skill improves, it increases in efficiency and speed. Level 1 removes small to medium debris in a ten-foot radius and provides a small boost to speed when walking through cleaned areas.
At later levels, you will be able to utilize Flux to trigger more potent versions of the spell and increase its effectiveness.
“Flux?”
A substance used to execute at-will abilities. You do not currently meet the requirements to hear more about Flux. It’s possible you lack the mental capacity to understand as well, but let’s just leave it at that.
Tusk slapped a meaty hand against his thigh.
“Dude! I see what you mean about the attitude. Your collar hates you. Like legit HATES YOU!”
The unnamed let out a sigh. “Tell me about it.”
“Okay,” Vella said, “so it looks like you’ve got a way to push past the trash and some ability to resist the poison or whatever it is. We should do a quick test, right?”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
“Sure,” the unnamed replied. “But I need a broom, don’t I?”
The custodian class comes with a range of in-built tools, including a broom. Simply engage an ability which requires the tool, and if it’s available, the tool will appear in your hand.
“There you go,” Tusk said, positively beaming. “You’re all set, man!”
Feeling more than a little foolish and half suspecting that the AI was just trying to make him look even more like an idiot, the unnamed stepped back from the chamber entrance and held out his hands. He looked over at Vella.
Nothing happened.
“You might need to actually select the spell,” Vella suggested. “See if you can drag it down to the hotbar on your HUD. That will make it a lot easier to access.”
He did as she suggested, finding that it was indeed possible to move the two spells from the tattoo display to his HUD. Each of them had their own icon. The Clean Sweep ability featured a simple image of two hands holding a sweeping broom, while the Sanitized Aura ability showed a stick figure with both hands raised surrounded by a cloud.
Once both of the spells were in place, the unnamed triggered the Clean Sweep ability with his mind. The air around him shifted momentarily before something solidified in his right hand. His fingers closed around the impossible shaft of a long broom which appeared to be made from translucent orange light.
“Yahtzee!” Tusk bellowed at the top of his lungs. “That is biscuits and gravy, dude! Awesome!”
The unnamed was surprised to find that there was no sarcasm in the big brute’s voice. He seemed genuinely ecstatic with the appearance of the broom.
“Try it out,” Vella suggested, pointing down at the floor of the corridor.
Tentatively, the unnamed placed the head of the broom against the floor and swept experimentally. Despite its transparent, luminescent orange appearance, the broom behaved just like any normal broom, gently brushing aside a little of the dust on the surface of the stone floor.
“Try using the Clean Sweep ability,” Vella urged. “You might need to focus on it the first few times, but once you get used to it, you should be able to just think about a spell and it will trigger. At least, that’s how it works for me and Tusk.”
The unnamed stepped back a few more paces, concentrating on the Clean Sweep icon as he stepped forward and moved the broom in a gentle sweeping motion. That simple movement was transformed in a moment as he felt the broom lurch in his hands, sweeping out in a wide arc with such speed and force that he almost fell face-first onto the floor once the move was completed.
A small cloud of dust and debris was propelled forward, showering both Tusk and Vella in dirt and stone chips as it billowed into the room beyond. They coughed and spluttered as the unnamed recovered his balance. Tusk was still grinning broadly, shaking his head in wonder as he pointed at the broom.
Vella was a less happy, spitting out dust and debris while she combed her hands through her hair.
“Next time,” she said, “maybe point that thing away from me.”
** CONGRATULATIONS! **
You’ve just engaged Flux for the first time; therefore, it is necessary to listen to a brief tutorial on the nature and function of Flux before you continue.
The unnamed realized that he still had the AI messages appearing in front of him so that everyone could see them.
“Just, give me a minute before you—”
The Flux tutorial is mandatory and must be completed in order for you to continue to access and utilize at-will abilities. The session will only take a few minutes.
He rolled his eyes. “Fine.”
Flux is an ever-replenishing energy source that fuels a custodian’s magical at-will abilities. It flows from the character’s connection to order, maintenance, and cleanliness, from their ability to order chaos and translate the chaotic nature of entropy into raw, usable power.
Like mana, in the case of spellcasters, Flux regenerates over time, but the base amount available depends on the custodian’s rank, skills, and how active they’ve been in their custodial duties prior to drawing on Flux-based abilities.
“Can you use potions to boost Flux?” Vella asked.
Yes. It is possible to brew Flux potions, but the ability to do so is only available to high-level custodians. Would you like to learn more about this process?
“Yes!” Vella said before the unnamed could object.
Flux Brew is the primary means by which Flux potions can be produced. It’s a specialized ability unlocked by master custodians, allowing them to brew potions infused with concentrated Flux energy.
These potions act as a portable reservoir of Flux, instantly replenishing the user’s energy and granting them temporary access to unique custodial abilities. With Flux potions, custodians can maintain their magical efficiency in the field and cast specific spells at will without depleting their own Flux reserves.
Would you like to hear more about different brewing techniques and the various enhancements which can be made throughout the brewing process?
“NO!” the unnamed snapped, too loudly. “No, just get back to the Flux tutorial. Are we done with that?”
We are not. First, you should know that you currently have ten Flux available, through which you can cast at-will spells and abilities. Such a small amount of Flux will only allow you to cast very basic, low-level spells.
Increasing in custodian rank will increase not only your skill and ability levels, but it will also increase your base Flux level. Completing significant custodial duties prior to a fight will temporarily grant you a small boost in your base Flux level.
Tusk snorted, chuckling loudly.
“It’s like my rage ability. If you go into a fight already charged up, you’ve got a larger reservoir to draw from. Except, this is for sweeping, I guess.”
Flux is not just utilized for sweeping! It can be used for any at-will ability. At higher levels, as I have mentioned, a custodian can also brew powerful potions which can increase and modify Flux, allowing for even greater variety in its uses.
The unnamed was about to close down the AI when a question occurred.
“Can I use Flux for magic? I mean, can I use it to power normal spells, like a ward?”
What an uncharacteristically adroit question. Given that I now know you’re capable of asking such incisive queries, it makes me wonder why you haven’t done so before.
“Passive-aggressive much,” the unnamed muttered as the AI went on.
I can find no record of Flux ever being used to fuel traditional magical spells within Havenspire. However, the information I have access to at present is limited, so I am unable to determine whether attempting to use Flux as a power source for traditional magic would work.
“Well,” Vella said. “That’s something, isn’t it? You might be able to use some of these custodian skills when you start using magic.”
The unnamed rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I can spend the next hundred years learning how to be the world’s best custodian and then maybe use a little of this Flux stuff to boost my mana.”
Tusk laughed. “Maybe you could combine the two. Turn your broom into a staff and power it with soap?!”
The unnamed ignored the jibe as the AI continued.
A more thrilling prospect presents itself. It may be entirely possible to use mana to power your custodial abilities!
That sent Tusk into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. He was practically rolling on the floor as the unnamed tried once more to hurry the conversation along.
“Anything else I need to know, or are we done?”
Flux will replenish over time; however, there are a range of negative status effects which may slow the charge of Flux. Most of these relate to mana drain; however, they might also influence your ability to replenish Flux.
“Okay! Great! We’re done then, right?”
You have successfully completed the Flux introductory tutorial. You are now ready to utilize Flux for at-will abilities.
The unnamed wiped away the AI message box, and it vanished back into his tattoo. He felt the ticking clock of their time in the Rat Run and was eager to get moving, but he couldn’t deny that the diversion had been worth it.
He held up the broom, considering the peculiar object. It felt solid, strong enough, perhaps, to use as a weapon if it came to that. He resented the fact that this was all he had to work with but resigned himself to the fact that it was better than nothing and, perhaps, might provide a way through the chamber up ahead.
After a few more practice runs, he began to get to grips with the Clean Sweep ability, enough so that he was eventually ready to attempt moving into the room. The trio agreed that Tusk would accompany the unnamed as he attempted to clear a path ahead, but that Vella would stay behind, just in case it all went wrong, giving them a position to attempt the chamber again if they failed, without the entire maze resetting.
“Alright,” the unnamed said, gripping his new broom in both hands. “Let’s do this, I guess.”
With Tusk as his back, he stepped into the chamber, leading with a sweep of the broom as he triggered his Clean Sweep ability. Two things happened the moment he moved into the room. First, his custodian skill ability brushed aside the trash immediately ahead of him. Mounds of crumbled paper, broken chair legs, tin cans, and other detritus were swept away in a wide arc ahead of him, leaving behind bare stone blocks. Second, and rather predictably, the walls to either side shuddered and began to slowly move inward, toward the center of the chamber.
With one eye fixed on the closest broken canister, the unnamed moved forward and repeated the sweep, brushing aside more of the trash up ahead as Tusk followed at his rear.
He noticed that each time he used the Clean Sweep ability, half of his available Flux was used up, as was indicated by a small blue bar at the bottom of his HUD. Thankfully, the bar filled up relatively quickly, and he was able to reuse the ability within only a few seconds if his Flux fell below the fifty-percent mark.
Thankfully, the air within the chamber was breathable, and whatever the broken canisters were releasing into the room seemed to be localized to within a short area surrounding them. Unfortunately, there were so many canisters that it was going to be impossible to reach the demon mask door without passing close by at least two of them.
The unnamed kept clearing a path, taking half a dozen steps farther into the heart of the chamber. Various oddities and pitfalls were revealed as he and the half-orc made their way forward, including a pool of acid that had filled a large crack in one of the floor stones.
“Corned beef hash!” the unnamed blurted as he caught sight of the acid and realized that he would have to take a longer route in order to make it to the door. That route would take him in between three of the leaking canisters.
He spun around, confirming that he would need to go back the way they’d come in order to follow a different path. The walls were moving slowly but fast enough that returning to try a different way forward wasn’t a viable option. There was also no guarantee that they wouldn’t find another acid pool on the other side of the chamber.
He turned back. The pool wasn’t overly large, but he didn’t think he could jump it in one go, and even though Tusk probably could, he hadn’t cleared away the area ahead of it, so there was no way of knowing what the half-orc might be landing in. Opting to make a decision and live with it, rather than delay any further, he turned to the left and performed the Clean Sweep maneuver once more, heading directly toward the wall, and circling the acid pool.
He managed to take three steps before the room shuddered and the sound of belching came from the demon door. Immediately afterward, the trash landscape shifted, undulating as more rubbish spewed into the chamber and the trash behind them closed over the clear path the unnamed had forged.
There was no time to consider the consequences of what had just happened. The unnamed kept pressing onward, noticing that the stench in the chamber had grown more intense and his eyes were beginning to water. What’s more, the entrance where they had walked into the room had closed up, locking Vella in the corridor outside and giving them no option other than to press on.
He pushed forward, turning away from the door and heading toward a gauntlet of broken canisters ahead of them. Unlike the other detritus in the chamber, it seemed that the canisters weren’t moved by the surrounding trash, either when the unnamed performed his Clean Sweep ability or when the demon door belched. They fell to the floor as the unnamed cleared a path around them but didn’t budge from that position.
The demon door was roughly twenty feet ahead of them, still covered in heaps of garbage and mostly covered so that only the top of its eyes and horns could be seen. The unnamed turned back to Tusk, motioning to the broken canisters up ahead.
“I say we move forward as fast as we can. No telling how bad this is gonna be, so I figure speed is our best option.”
The half-orc nodded, teeth gritted in determination, as the unnamed took a breath, regretting the influx of fetid air immediately and bracing himself as he triggered the Clean Sweep ability and set off at a run.
The effect of the green mist spewing from the broken canisters was immediate and crippling. It felt to the unnamed as though his chest was being compressed by the jaws of life. At the same time, his lungs burned and the skin on his hands and face began to bubble and blister. His eyes watered as he stumbled forward, legs buckling as Tusk roared in pain from behind.
The unnamed held his breath, fighting past the agony that assailed him from every side as he moved through two spewing canisters. He stumbled and would have fallen to the floor if it wasn’t for the luminescent broom, which he used as a crutch to keep himself upright and mobile.
The Sanitized Aura icon on his HUD flared with light, and the burning and crushing sensation suddenly eased considerably. He was still in pain, but it was manageable. His eyes watered as he forced himself through the gauntlet of poison gas, using the Clean Sweep to clear a path ahead and praying that they weren’t blocked in by another pool of acid.
Mercifully, the floor was clear, and the unnamed was able to drive himself on past the two broken canisters standing side by side. As he approached a third canister, it tipped to the side, spewing noxious mist directly into his path and burning like fire as he flinched backward.
Tusk’s bulky form battered into the unnamed’s back, shoving him past the gas and stumbling toward the floor. Before the unnamed hit hard stone, his trajectory was halted as Tusk grabbed him by the arm and lifted him up.
The two of them stood panting as the trash surrounding them began to rise, the walls closing in and threatening to make any forward movement impossible within moments. There was no time to consider his wounds, no time to plan out their next move. The unnamed pressed on, using the Clean Sweep ability to clear a path to the demon mask door.
The trash was so high around them now that the broom was only able to clear away three feet in a semi-circle around the unnamed, forcing Tusk to shadow him closely as they moved up to the exit. A flurry of Clean Sweeps cleared away enough of the door to see it in its entirety. Standing a few feet taller than Tusk, it looked like the entrance to a carnival ghost train or some haunted house. The demon mask’s mouth opened wide, the gap beneath large fangs leading to a nondescript corridor beyond and their exit out of the chamber.
The unnamed was about to step forward when a rumbling sound gave him pause. Tusk reached up, grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him aside just as the mouth closed and opened a moment later, spewing a fresh flow of trash into the already packed room.
The unnamed tried to use Clean Sweep, but the broom had vanished, and he was wedged so tightly into the trash that he could barely move. The walls were close enough that the compacted trash was beginning to crush his body, and he lacked the strength to dislodge himself.
“I’m stuck!” he shouted as Tusk pulled himself free and looked around. The big half-orc grunted, gritting his teeth and wrenching the unnamed out of the trash pile, then dragging him behind as the brute elbowed his way through the chest-high garbage heap, kicking and punching the trash as he shouted in fury.
The unnamed was aware of being pulled through a tide of garbage as the walls closed in and the trash rose above his head. The pressure increased, pressing against his body on all sides as he was yanked forward with bone-jarring force.
There was a moment of hesitation where he felt himself wedged into the trash-filled room like a cork in a bottle. Then, like a released cork, he flew out of the room and landed on top of Tusk as the pair rolled on the hard stone floor of the exit passage.
He bounced off the half-orc, and they lay on their backs panting and enduring the lingering pain as the walls in the adjoining chamber shuddered and then reversed course. The unnamed was still panting and staring up at the ceiling as Vella’s smiling face came into view, staring down at him.
“Well done,” she said, reaching down to offer him her hand. “You did it.”
The unnamed sat upright, nodding breathlessly as Tusk thrust his fist into the air while he lay on the ground beside them.
“Captain Custodian rules!”