The area up ahead was a blank space, a large room around half the size of a football field with a domed ceiling painted bright white, sand-colored walls, and a plain gray stone floor made up of the same kind of nondescript blocks that covered the walls and floor of the corridor in which they stood.
A series of copper-colored pyramids were scattered around the chamber. They looked like they were made of metal, and there were piles of bones surrounding them on all sides. By his count, the unnamed reasoned there must have been thirty or so pyramids, each standing no higher than his shoulders. Nothing stirred in the chamber, and in contrast to the previous room, it was dead silent. Almost eerily so.
Tusk and Vella wandered over, and the half-orc grunted as he surveyed the room.
“You see this one before?”
The unnamed shook his head.
“No, but it’s a good bet this will be a combat chamber. Any time you see an arena-style setup like this, it means they’re gonna swarm us with enemies and the only way through is to kill them all.”
Tusk nodded, cracking his wooden sword against the edge of his shield.
“Finally. Something I can sink my teeth into. Bring it on!”
He turned to the unnamed, wearing a mischievous grin. “You ready to Leroy Jenkins this schnitzel?!”
Before the unnamed could object, the half-orc had already charged out into the middle of the chamber, sword and shield bared as he shouted, “Come to papa!”
Vella rolled her eyes, following the brute with a dart in each hand while the unnamed moved up behind her, mind racing. The moment they stepped away from the corridor, a stone wall slid into place, locking them in the chamber and confirming the unnamed’s suspicion that they would need to kill all the enemies in the room before a way forward was opened up.
Almost immediately, the bones gathered around the small pyramids began to knit together to the sickly sound of clacking. Skeletal bipeds rose from the ground, each with a skull whose eyes shone with crimson light. The skeletons moved quickly, fixating on Tusk and running toward him. They each brandished rusted weapons, swords and axes that looked like they were on the verge of falling to pieces.
The first skeleton to come within range of Tusk’s sword had its skull neatly separated from its body as the big half-orc swung the wooden practice blade in a savage arc. It dropped its weapon, and Tusk promptly plucked it out of the air before it hit the ground, spinning around to split the skull of a second reanimated skeleton and shattering the skull into pieces as the enemy clattered to the floor.
“Here!” Tusk yelled, tossing the wooden shield toward the unnamed, before turning back to a trio of enemies that were almost on him. “I don’t need this in here.”
The unnamed ran forward, diving to catch the shield and tumbling against the stone floor in the process, his arms cracking against hard rock and winding him at the same time. He rolled and hunched over just as a nearby skeleton swung its axe down toward his neck. At the apex of its swing, the reanimated enemy burst apart as Vella struck it with an old sword she had managed to pick up within the first few seconds of the fight, shattering the attacker and showering the unnamed in bones and dust.
He stood and held the shield with his right arm instead of his left, thinking to use it like a battering ram if the opportunity presented itself. Turning to look around, the unnamed realized that he wouldn’t be needed at all for this fight. The half-orc and elf moved with blistering speed, performing lethal strikes one after the other as they sliced through the attackers like it was nothing more than combat practice.
The unnamed had seen them both fight in the two weeks prior to entering the Rat Run for the final time. He’d even sparred with them, on several occasions. Watching them now though, he began to see just how far ahead of him they were in combat ability. They moved like veteran fighters, Vella shifting to and fro with the speed of a cat, while Tusk shoved and battered, roared and pummeled his enemies as though he was insulted by their feeble attempts to offer resistance.
They fought with such ferocity that it took them only a few minutes to cut down the last of the skeletons, at which point they stood in the center of the chamber, looking left and right but finding no more enemies to slay. The unnamed waited for a door to open and the exit corridor to be revealed, but nothing happened. He walked to the others, about to speak when the bones scattered around the room began to knit together once again.
Crimson light glowed from the skulls of the reassembling skeletons, at least those that hadn’t been completely shattered. Standing back-to-back, the unnamed and his companions watched as the enemy reassembled. This time, instead of thirty or so skeletons, they seemed to join with one another, two forming a single skeletal form with a larger frame and, in some cases, four arms instead of two.
Some of the reanimated skeletons brandished rusted weapons like before, while others held newly fashioned weapons that appeared to have been constructed out of spare bones. They held clubs and war hammers and lumbered toward the unnamed and his companions with renewed purpose.
Tusk roared and entered the fray much like he had the first time. He held an axe in either hand and swung the weapons with deadly skill, carving through the enemy and managing to avoid the worst of their attacks. Vella ducked behind a pair of oversized skeletons, cutting through their legs to hewn them down to size and then finishing them off so quickly that the unnamed had to pull his eyes away from the mesmeric sight.
It was a good thing he did so, because a single skeleton brought its hammer down against his head a moment later. The unnamed deflected the worst of the blow with his shield, but the bone hammer hit so hard it knocked him back off his feet and sent him hurtling to the floor. The skeleton raised its hammer again and stepped forward, just as Tusk skewered it from behind, then used the axe buried in its bony torso to lift the creature over his head and smash it against the floor.
The skeleton shattered into a thousand pieces while Tusk roared in triumph. The unnamed got to his feet. He was beginning to grow tired of getting rescued like this. It was humiliating, and he vowed, if they made it through the Rat Run and got into the guild as he hoped, that he’d devote himself to learning how to fight.
Despite that, he was glad at some level that he had the pair of fighters by his side. Making his way through this chamber on his own would have been impossible, and, once more, the pair proved their martial worth by quickly dispatching the enemy.
As they once more gathered together in the center of the arena, surrounded by the broken bones of their enemies, the unnamed felt a sinking feeling in his gut. He looked around at the shattered skeletons and already knew with certainty what would happen next.
“I think something’s wrong here,” he offered. “This is just going to keep happening until we find out how to turn it off.”
“Turn what off?” Tusk asked.
The unnamed bent down and picked up a rusted sword, hefting the weapon and trying to familiarize himself with its weight and size. What struck him first was how heavy the weapon was compared to the sparring swords he’d used at the guild.
“We need to turn off whatever is animating these skeletons,” he said, motioning to the closest pile of bones, which was already beginning to reassemble. “Killing them isn’t enough. There must be some kind of force that’s bringing them back to life.”
The bones scattered around the chamber all began to reform. As before, a smaller number of skeletal creatures were animated, but those that came to life were much larger and fiercer than the previous enemies. Chips of bone formed carapace-like armor over their bodies, and their weapons increased in size and ferocity. Triple reinforced arms and legs pulsed with power as the reforming was completed.
Where there had been fifteen or so enemies before, there were now only five, hulking forms that each stood head and shoulders above Tusk and outmatching him in bulk.
“This could be a problem,” Vella said. “Maybe you should concentrate on figuring out what’s animating these guys while we keep them busy?”
“Agreed,” the unnamed said, moving away from the pair as they readied themselves for the oncoming attack.
The oversized skeletal beasts attacked without hesitation. Three of them rounded on Tusk, while the other two went for Vella. The half-orc tried to shove back the attackers but found with their increased bulk that this wasn’t as easy to do as it had been before. He also found it more challenging to cut through their enhanced armor. The old, rusty axes he wielded were good enough to cut through lesser skeletons but didn’t seem up to the task when it came to the larger creatures.
Instead, Tusk employed a series of shoves and kicks in addition to swinging the axes, driving the skeletons into one another repeatedly and trying to chip away at their armor at vulnerable places here and there. The increased size of the enemy skeletons meant that those vulnerable places tended to be the knees and ankles. Chips of bone flew left and right as the big half-orc cut away at the skeletal forms like a manic lumberjack in a frenzy.
The unnamed continued to back away, looking around the chamber for some sign of a trigger or mechanism which was animating the skeletal forms. He caught sight of Vella, who was darting back and forth just out of reach of the other two skeletal warriors. He had no idea how she was going to take down the enemies given her significantly smaller size compared to Tusk. Like him, she used the skeletons against one another, employing their own bulk to get in their way and, on occasion, engineering the situation so that one of the giants slammed its weapon into the body of another.
The unnamed pulled his eyes away, refocusing on the problem. Each of the skeletal forms was animated by that bright crimson light. It might have been magic or some other mechanical means of animation, but it was clear that, unless he found its source and destroyed it, the skeletal forms would keep reconstructing themselves after each defeat. It was also likely that they would combine as they had before, ultimately ending in one giant beast which would be all but impossible to bring down.
As he was looking around the chamber, something caught his eye in the ceiling. It was small, only about the size of a human skull. It might have been a gem, or some device housed in red glass. He wasn’t sure which. The gem was shaped in an angular prism that radiated the same crimson light he could see through the eyes of each of the reconstructed skeletal forms. Now that he saw it, he wondered how on earth he’d missed seeing the glowing gem in the first place. It didn’t take a genius to see that destroying that gem would likely end the reanimation cycle and allow them to clear the chamber.
The big problem with that fact was that the gem sat roughly thirty feet above his head, far too high up to reach. It might be possible to shatter the gem if he threw the rusty axe he was holding, but the chances of hitting it were slim, and he also had no way of knowing how much force would be required to do the job.
As Tusk roared, he ripped the skull off one of the skeletal giants, kicking it in the back with his knees as he fell toward the floor and ripped the skull back in triumph. The unnamed looked up at the gem at the moment Tusk defeated the enemy, noting a momentary swell in light around the object before it dimmed to its usual strength.
As Tusk and Vella continued their fight, the unnamed moved to the closest pyramid, inspecting the object in the hopes that perhaps there would be some other way to shut down the gem and its reanimating work. The pyramid was rough to the touch but otherwise unresponsive when the unnamed reached out and pressed his hand against its surface. He couldn’t see any buttons or triggers, and the metal pyramid seemed to be one single block rather than a constructed object, as if it had been cast into its current shape.
Looking up to quickly confirm that the fight was still under control, he slammed the back of his axe into the side of the pyramid. There was nothing unremarkable about the metal. He swung the axe several times, producing a clanging sound but nothing else.
When he looked up, he saw that, miraculously, Vella had managed to put down one of the skeletons. He had no idea how it was possible given her size and comparative strength, but the evidence was right there in front of him. One of the skeletal warriors lay in pieces on the floor, and the other was dragging a broken arm along the ground, already looking worse for wear.
Tusk had also killed a second skeleton and was currently battering the third with one of the arms of the fallen warriors. He was laughing as he fought, thoroughly enjoying the fight. The unnamed watched, once more baffled by the skill demonstrated by these two warriors. Vella struck as quick as a serpent, moving out of reach of the enemy so deftly that it looked like child’s play. When she did strike, it was with precise, lethal blows that hit exactly the right place to do the most damage.
Tusk, by contrast, barreled into the enemy, using his considerable bulk and muscle to jostle the foe while he kicked and headbutted and battered the enemy in a flurry of violence and destruction. He used his own body as a kind of weapon, factoring in punches, grapples, and kicks into his fighting repertoire in a kind of violent choreography. The burly half-orc was bleeding from several cuts and abrasions, but he didn’t seem to notice. If anything, the minor wounds only served to heighten his enjoyment of the battle.
The unnamed remembered Tusk mentioning rage, the resource warriors used to enact specific spells and abilities. Apparently, it increased the more damage he took or delivered to enemies. Once sufficient rage had been stored up, the big half-orc would deliver a savage headbutt or an overpowered kick that seemed far more forceful than his usual attacks, using the rage to pummel his enemies.
The unnamed realized too late that he had been mesmerized by their fighting once more and had forgotten to yell his instructions. He watched as another of the skeletal warriors fell, with Vella standing behind it, her sword sticking out of the eyes of the beast’s skull.
“Wait!” he yelled, running toward Tusk just as the big half-orc was about to deal the death blow to the last of the skeletons. “You need to leave that last one...”
Tusk shattered the skeleton skull, bringing the two axes together at once with bone-splitting force.
“…alive!” the unnamed finished as the warrior fell lifeless to the floor.
Tusk looked over, confused, as the unnamed pointed up to the ceiling where the animation gem was beginning to dim to a dull red hue.
“We need to smash that,” he said. “It’s what’s animating the skeletons. I was hoping we could keep one of the enemies alive until we figure out how to do it because they’re only going to reform, and then you’ll have a bigger enemy to fight.”
Vella and Tusk moved toward the unnamed. They were both sweating, both breathing heavily as they stared up at the gem in the ceiling. Vella was about to say something when, once more, the bones scattered around the floor reassembled, forming into a figure at the center of the chamber.
Feet and legs were formed first, covered in thick bone armor as the monstrous form began to take shape. Roughly humanoid in shape, it was wider than the previous enemies had been, boasting four arms, each holding a bone club. It had a squat, wide head sitting atop a hulking torso. The creature was at least twenty feet high, its body layered with thick armor, twin eyes glowing with hateful crimson light, arms flexing as it hefted its weapons.
The arms themselves were relatively far apart, with one set extending from the beast’s shoulders and a second pair jutting out from just below its hips. It might have looked comical if it wasn’t for the ferocity and bloody intent of the creature. The skeletal giant opened its mouth, revealing a forest of sharpened bone teeth as it roared.
The trio looked up at the giant, Tusk grinning as though he couldn’t think of anything more enjoyable than fighting the skeletal brute. Vella was more circumspect. She pointed to the gem.
“If I can get a little closer, I might be able to hit it.”
She hefted the broken sword she held in her left hand, testing its weight and shaking her head.
“The weight is all off, but I still think I could throw it if I get close enough. Need to be within at least ten feet though.”
Tusk charged, running directly toward the skeletal giant, intending to shoulder-barge the brute and knock it off balance. The unnamed and Vella watched as the half-orc was picked effortlessly off the ground and sent hurtling through the air by a backhand from one of the giant’s arms.
Tusk wore a look of genuine confusion as he flew overhead, clearly baffled at how such a thing was possible. He landed hard on the ground, tumbling over and over until his body came to a stop against one of the stone pyramids. He grunted, slowly rising off the floor as the giant skeleton turned its attention toward Vella and the unnamed.
The beast was quick. Too quick. Unlike the other lumbering forms that had attacked the group, this creature moved with deceptive speed, charging up to Vella and very nearly taking her head off. She ducked, moved quickly to one side and then back again, but one of the brute’s hands caught her on her return movement, picking her up off the floor as she struggled to free herself.
It held her up with one hand and punched out with another, hitting her so hard that the unnamed heard the unmistakable sound of cracking bone as she flew through the air and landed in a heap on the ground. Her body lay limp as the giant ran toward the unnamed. Before it could reach him, Tusk reappeared, harrying the brute with an axe and causing the giant to turn around and kick out with one of its thick legs.
The unnamed ran toward Vella.
The potion. She had the healing potion in her backpack, and perhaps it would be enough to…
He’d only run a few paces when her body began to dissipate, turning to dust that was carried away by an invisible breeze.
“Granola flapjack!” he shouted, watching as the last of Vella disappeared.
The unnamed turned back to the fight in time to see Tusk being pummeled to a bloody mess. The giant had hold of one of Tusk’s arms and was punching him with his other fists, blow after bone-crunching blow landing as the half-orc coughed blood and crumpled beneath the onslaught. The unnamed could see where this was heading. Tusk wouldn’t last more than a few seconds, and the unnamed knew his time was almost up.
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He looked up at the gem in the ceiling. There was no chance of reaching it, and he only had a few precious seconds to make a plan. The entry into the chamber was closed, and if he died here, everything would reset. They’d have to go through all those rooms again, and that would mean losing precious time and putting them well behind on day one. The unnamed wasn’t so worried about the points they would lose as a penalty, but it was becoming rapidly apparent that dying and resetting would simply be too costly if it was a complete team wipe.
One of them needed to survive. He needed to survive.
The unnamed squatted down on the floor, gathering dust and spreading it about on the stone in front of him as the giant delivered the death blow to Tusk. Using his index finger, the unnamed sketched out the warding symbol he had used in the Blood Pits, hoping dearly that he was remembering it correctly.
Blood.
That was his only option now. He had nothing to lose given that the giant would be on him in seconds. He slid the cutting edge of the old sword against his palm, wincing as the dull blade did its work and wondering whether it would be possible to get tetanus in this simulated afterlife. Given everything else he’d seen thus far, it wouldn’t surprise him.
The ground shook as the giant lumbered toward him. The unnamed didn’t look up, didn’t try to see if Tusk’s body was still in the chamber or whether it had already disintegrated. He had to survive, had to use this magic shield to stay here long enough for the others to get back.
He squeezed his hand, dripping blood down onto the shield rune he’d made in the stone dust, praying to whatever gods existed in this strange afterlife simulator that the magic would work.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The giant’s footsteps drew closer, shaking the floor as blood dripped into the symbol.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
No, that wasn’t the sound of footfalls. The unnamed looked up, wincing in anticipation of the death blow that would surely follow. The giant was looming over him, its huge fists thudding into a barrier of faint crimson light that surrounded the unnamed like a bubble. He flinched as the skeletal warrior once more battered the shield with fists and the bone weapons he held in his spare hands.
The unnamed looked down at the symbol beneath him. Blood was still flowing into the mark, and a faint crimson light surrounded the symbol. He hadn’t felt anything, hadn’t sensed a change in the air around him or in his body, but it was clear that the magic was working. Abundantly clear.
“Corn beef hash!” he whispered as the giant continued beating against the barrier to no effect.
He’d survived. He’d also managed to engage magic, even though he still had no idea how it worked. It had been the blood, of course, but there were other troubling questions that now arose. Most importantly, how long would he be able to keep this up?
By the unnamed’s estimation, it would take the others at least an hour to move through the chambers they had already cleared and reach him again. The biggest delay would likely entail navigating the mirror chamber and the long drop to a room which had previously been filled with water.
If it was blood that activated the ward, then it stood to reason that blood would be required to keep it working. Did that mean that the unnamed would have to keep cutting himself and dripping blood onto the symbol? What if there was too much blood and it blurred the magical marking? What if he passed out from blood loss, or lost concentration and accidentally brushed a hand across the symbol, breaking its magical power? There were too many questions and no way to find answers other than to stick to his current course and hope it worked.
There was, of course, the question of what to do when Tusk and Vella eventually arrived. They would still be in exactly the same position, needing to shatter the gem in the ceiling above but unable to reach it.
At least, with the others in the chamber, he might have options. Perhaps, on the way back through the cleared chambers, Vella would think of something? She was wickedly smart, and the unnamed didn’t doubt that she’d be thinking through the problem as she ran through the maze.
Holding the sword in one hand and watching the bloody symbol below where he crouched, the unnamed waited, thinking to replenish the blood in the symbol when it started to dry and hoping that this would be enough to keep the magic going.
It was an odd sensation, cowering beneath a monstrous skeleton while it tried to beat him into a pulp, the only form of protection a magical shield which he had no idea how to control. He’d expected to at least feel something when the ward was activated, some kind of energy passing through his system, or maybe the crackle of power tickling his body as the shield surrounded him. Instead, the unnamed felt only the pain of the cut on his palm and his body’s fear response to what was going on.
** CONGRATULATIONS! **
You’ve just received the Magic User 101 achievement for employing a magic spell in a live testing environment within Havenspire. Some might think that magic is just cheating, but why should that stop you?
Achievement Bonus: Twenty Percent Decrease in Casting Speed
Now you can cheat even faster, casting your magic spells with a little more speed! Note: This temporary bonus will only last for the duration of the Rat Run.
The unnamed grunted. It was hard enough to maintain the ward, let alone contending with the demented AI continually spewing out achievement announcements.
He dismissed the text, hoping that, after a time, the giant would give up his relentless attack. As the minutes went by, however, the hulking beast demonstrated an automaton-like devotion to its task. It was like a bone golem whose mind was filled with a single instruction—to destroy its enemies. The repeated bashing of bone again magical barrier was the only sound reverberating throughout the chamber, a percussive crack that repeated again and again. The monstrous skeleton wasn’t grunting or hissing or screaming. Its complete attention was focused on the tiny man hunched down in front of him and an overwhelming need to squash that man.
Three times, the unnamed cut himself and squeezed blood into the warding symbol. The marking itself seemed unrecognizable from what it had been when he’d first sketched it out, but the magic was still working, as long as he kept pouring blood onto the symbol.
He checked his HUD to confirm how much time had passed. It was getting close to an hour, and he was starting to get tired. He was too afraid that moving would disrupt the spell, but he’d been squatting for so long that his legs had begun to seize up, spasming and threatening to buckle. That meant that even if the unnamed wanted to release the spell and make a run for it, he wouldn’t get more than a step or two before falling to the ground.
As the minutes rolled on, the spasms shifted to numbness and then a dull ache. He teetered back and forth on his haunches, desperate to shift his legs and alleviate the pain but unable to do so. It was becoming unbearable, and the unnamed didn’t know how much longer he could hold the spell and his uncomfortable stance. All the while, the skeletal giant continued to beat against the ward, causing crimson light to occasionally flare where its fist or weapon connected with the shield.
The unnamed tried to focus on something else, anything else. At this point, he’d be prepared to talk to the Devil himself it if meant getting his mind off the crippling pain in his legs and hand.
“Why don’t I get an achievement for squatting here for an hour?” he asked. “Like, some kind of endurance achievement, or whatever.”
Achievements are delivered in recognition of an accomplishment, once you have actually completed the activity. They are not typically delivered during the action itself.
“But I’ll get another achievement for this, won’t I? The cowardly lion achievement for sitting here on my butt while this skeleton wails on me.”
I am unable to see achievements before they are delivered. Likewise, I cannot see a complete list of possible achievements.
And there it was. The AI had used the word I, confirming that this wasn’t just some automated collar system; it was definitely the AI the technician had given to him when he was first uploaded. The unnamed wanted to know more, but the pain he was feeling was simply too intense, and having to read replies from the AI was proving too difficult.
He slowed his breathing, practicing a technique he’d seen on a military survival show back in the real world. Early on when the sickness took him, REDACTED had seen the instructor demonstrate the breathing technique, and he’d taken to using it himself as a way to mitigate pain and endure when there was no other course of action.
Blood running from his throbbing palm, vision beginning to blur, muscles aching and sweat pouring from his brow, the unnamed practiced his breathing, focusing his attention on holding each breath and releasing in a precise frequency. He poured all of his focus into the exercise, pushing back the pain and frustration until…
He saw her running into the chamber through an entryway that had opened up a moment earlier. Vella didn’t hesitate. She was holding a broken sword in one hand which looked a lot like a dagger, running toward the giant skeleton like she intended to stab it right through the heart.
Tusk came charging into the room next, roaring in a rage and throwing one of his axes toward the giant. The weapon flew end over end, clattering off the creature’s armor and drawing the skeleton’s attention away from the unnamed. The skeletal giant turned and began running toward Tusk as Vella moved in a circle coming up toward the creature’s rear.
The unnamed slumped to the ground, his muscles finally giving way as he fell down, and the shield dropped around him. Muscles shifting from an intense pain to a dull throb, he watched through stinging eyes, lying on his side, as Tusk drew the giant toward the center of the room, making sufficient noise to keep it focused on him as Vella ran behind the monster. The giant skeleton hunched down, attempting to punch Tusk as the half-orc dived and rolled aside, narrowly missing being beaten into the floor.
Vella jumped, climbing up onto the giant’s back as it was bent over attempting to crush Tusk. She moved like a cat, scampering up its body and propelling herself from its head as the skeleton stood at full height. At the moment she reached her peak, Vella threw the broken sword up at the gem in the ceiling, timing her jump and throw perfectly and sending the weapon spearing up toward its target with brutal accuracy.
The gem shattered the moment the broken sword made contact, showering pieces of glowing crimson glass outward as Vella fell in a downward trajectory and the giant skeleton below her crumbled to dust, its constituent parts disintegrating.
Tusk ran toward Vella, and the half-orc managed to get into place and catch the elf a moment before she hit the stone, dropping low to the ground, his legs straining as he cradled her and then fell back against the floor, laughing as flecks of the shattered gem showered around them.
“Yes!” he shouted in triumph as Vella climbed off his body and helped the half-orc to his feet. “It worked!”
She slapped him on the shoulder, grinning before turning to face the unnamed. His muscles were still numb, and he was shaking. The best he could manage was to half crouch as the others came walking over. They were both grinning as Vella threw a thumb over her shoulder.
“You were right. The gem was the right call.”
The unnamed nodded, trying to stand upright as they approached. “That was incredible,” he blurted. “The jump, the throw. It was amazing.”
Vella gave a mock bow as Tusk grunted.
“She had the easy part. I was the one that had to keep that big bone boy busy.”
She spun around to face him. “Easy? You’re joking, right? Did you see that throw? No way you’d be able to do that, even on your best day.”
“Whatever,” the half-orc responded as they turned back to the unnamed.
Vella noticed the blood running from his hand and rushed over.
“You’re hurt,” she said, picking up his hand and inspecting the cuts in his palm.
“It’s fine,” he said. “It was intentional.”
She looked down at the place he had been squatting when they’d entered the chamber. Blood was still pooling in the symbol he had marked out in the dust, some of it dried to a burnt orange color, some of it fresh and leading toward where he now stood.
Vella looked back up at the unnamed.
“You did it, didn’t you? You did magic?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I guess I did. Just enough to keep that thing off me.”
“For an hour?” she pressed. “That’s incredible.”
“An hour and a half, actually,” he corrected. “I was counting.”
** CONGRATULATIONS! **
You’ve just been awarded the Beat Me Like I Owe You Money boon! For enduring a world-class battering but still managing to stay alive, you get to choose from one of the following benefits:
1. +2 Stamina Buff: Seeing as how you love getting beaten so much, now you can do even more of it. This buff will add an additional two points to your stamina for a period of one hour. The ability can be used once a day.
2. Minor Heal Buff: Look, I know you like punishing yourself, but sometimes a fella needs a break! This buff will allow you to heal one minor wound once per day, so that you can keep on keeping on!
Vella and Tusk looked on as the unnamed showed them the details of the boon.
“A boon?” Tusk asked, turning to face Vella. “I didn’t know there were boons in this thing.”
She shrugged. “Neither did I. Leo didn’t mention it. Maybe it’s got something to do with his defective collar.”
The half-orc snorted. “Well, sign me up for one of those broken puppies then.”
The unnamed smiled. “Yeah, I’ve already got one. The Iron Lung boon. Gives me plus one to holding my breath underwater. It popped up in that water chamber.”
Tusk frowned, incensed at the news that the unnamed apparently had access to bonuses that neither he nor Vella could gain.
“What should I choose?” the unnamed asked, drawing their attention back to the boons.
“Healing is always useful,” Tusk said, “but a minor heal won’t do much. The stamina buff is the way to go, I’d say. It lasts for a full hour, and it will help with anything stamina related, which is most of what you’re gonna be doing here. Especially if you need to do that magic shield trick again. Might make it easier to survive.”
“Agreed,” Vella said. “But it’s your choice. I think the stamina would be better though.”
The unnamed nodded, selecting the first option.
You’ve chosen the +2 Stamina Buff. Wow, you really do like getting hit, huh?
A plus two symbol in front of a silver shield appeared on his HUD and moved to the bottom left of his vision. He could tell without asking that engaging the enhancement would just require mentally pressing that symbol.
“The trick,” Vella said, dropping her pack onto the floor, “is knowing when to pop it.”
She clicked her fingers at Tusk, pointing to his axe. He handed it to her, and she started cutting shreds off the unnamed’s shirt, then began winding the cloth strips around the wound on his palm.
“So, tell us about this ward. You just marked out the symbol and dropped some blood into it?” she asked as she bandaged his hand. “So, blood must be how you power the spell?”
“Seems like it, yeah. I still don’t really understand how it really works, but the ward popped up once I dropped blood into the run, and I managed to keep it going by just making sure there was blood there the whole time.”
Tusk grunted. “That’s a pretty risky kind of magic if you have to bleed yourself dry every time you wanna do a spell.”
Vella shot him a withering glare.
“Really? You and I both got killed by that thing, and the only injury he sustained are these cuts. You saw the size of that giant, and it didn’t lay a finger on him. I’d say that’s some pretty powerful magic, wouldn’t you?”
He held up his hands in mock surrender.
“I’m just saying, if he has to bleed a bunch every time he does a spell, it’s gonna take it out of him, that’s all. Sooner or later, he’s gonna pass out if he keeps doing that.”
The unnamed nodded. “He’s right. I already feel pretty weak, and those cuts were shallow. Plus, I’ve only got the one spell, and it only does one thing.”
Vella finished the bandage and turned his hand left and right, inspecting her work. She nodded and let his hand drop, then put a hand on his shoulder.
“You protected yourself against an overpowering opponent that neither of us would have been able to bring down. And you picked up a boon because of it.”
She pointed up toward the shattered crystal.
“You also figured out how to stop those skeletons and managed to survive here for an hour and a half with that thing wailing on you. Everything comes with a price, and everything has limits. It’s the same with fighting as it is with magic. Whether it’s stamina or rage or blood, there’s always a cost. You just need to practice, and you’ll get better and learn how far you can push the sorcery, that’s all.”
Tusk nodded. He was bending down with one hand pressed against the floor in the middle of a large depression which had been caused by the giant’s fist.
“She’s right. Magic is completely overpowered in this place, dude. So, you have to bleed a little to make it work. It still lets you do impossible stuff that Vel and I can’t do. I mean, think about it, we’ve been training for years, and we still got beat by that giant. You didn’t though, and you’ve only got one spell. Once you pick up a few more, who knows what you’ll be able to do.”
The unnamed was about to respond when all three of their collars beeped and a message displayed on their HUDs. Leo’s face showed up on a video feed, and his voice rang out throughout the chamber.
“Initiates, my apologies for speaking to you like this, particularly if you’re in the middle of something. I’ve been asked to speak to you directly because it has come to our attention that this year’s Rat Run has been somewhat compromised by the dissemination of a selection of guides known collectively as The Knowledge, which divulge secrets relating to the contest you are all currently taking part in.”
The unnamed felt a knot tighten in his stomach. He frowned, hoping that the next words out of Leo’s mouth didn’t include the word disqualification. Instead, the veteran only smiled as he went on.
“Understand that you are not being penalized for this, nor will any of the points which have been acquired because of The Knowledge be taken away from you. By contrast, we see this as a good thing. One of you has sacrificed a good deal of their time and personal advantage in order to make life a little easier for you all. By definition, that is precisely what fraternity entails. Personal sacrifice for the sake of other guild members.”
He shook his head.
“No one will be penalized; however, in light of this information, we’ve decided to ramp up the contest a little. The difficulty levels will remain the same; however, you will have only three days to clear the Rat Run, not seven.”
Tusk’s eyes grew wide. “What the hash?! Three flapjacking days?”
“That’s three days to complete the maze and make it out with at least five thousand points. In addition, we will be locking down the maze at midnight each night and opening it up at six in the morning. That means you’ll be locked in whichever chamber you make it to by midnight, and on the final day, you’ll need to complete the seventieth room by that time.”
The unnamed started running through the numbers. It was already going to be difficult enough to clear the required seventy rooms, but with a three-day timeframe and no ability to run for twenty-four hours, the contest had suddenly become exponentially more difficult. A death now would be absolutely catastrophic.
“However,” Leo went on, “we have decided that death within the maze will now send you back to the chamber you reside in at midnight. So, rather than being sent right back to the start of the Rat Run each time you die, you will only return to the chamber you started in at the beginning of the day. We feel that this provides enough balance between the difficulty of the challenge and the penalty for failing to clear a room and dying in the maze.”
He paused for a moment, still smiling as though there was more coming.
“One final thing. You should know that this change is not novel to the Rat Run experience. Each group who enters the maze experiences some profound change or another. Each time we have a new cohort entering the maze, we make some shift within the first day or so. This is to simulate the various changes, surprises, and disappointments that will be a part of your life if you should be successful in your bid to become initiates in the Brawler’s Guild. You will need to learn to adapt to change, rethink your plans, and quickly adapt. This is part of the Rat Run experience, and it is part of what your life will be in the guild.”
He nodded to himself.
“I’d suggest you think carefully about how you would like to proceed. If all the members of your crew are killed a second before midnight, they will be sent back to the start and this first day will have gotten you nowhere. If, however, you choose one of your party to remain behind in one of the chambers you have previously cleared, that will allow you to return to that chamber rather than having to start from scratch. You would do well to plan your approach carefully to ensure that you maximize your progress each day.”
He offered a short wave.
“Honor through service!”
The video feed was cut off, and the unnamed and his companions were left to work through what they’d just heard. In just one minute, Leo had completely changed the rules, and their approach to the maze would need to change drastically to accommodate that shift.
“No way,” Tusk muttered. “I call avocado toast on that!”
The unnamed frowned. “You think he’s lying?”
Tusk rolled his eyes. “This whole thing is a lie, dude. Think about it. Seventy rooms? There is no hashing way they were ever going to get us to clear seventy rooms. I doubt there’s any more than forty rooms total. Think about how much effort is involved in building out seventy rooms.”
The unnamed shrugged. “But they don’t actually have to build anything though, do they? I mean, everything in Havenspire is simulated.”
“Well,” Vella interjected, “that’s not strictly true. I mean, yeah, this whole place is simulated. But it’s set up so that there’s a cost for everything. You can’t just walk up to a blank plot of land and wish a three-story house into being. You have to build it. You can use magic to help or get an engineer to use one of their machines. You can also use your increased strength and stamina, particularly if you’re higher in rank, but you still need to build the structure bit by bit.”
The unnamed frowned, working through the logic of that. “So, this is a fantasy world simulator with goblins and magic and flying whales, and all that junk, but you can’t just magic up a house?”
Tusk snorted with laughter.
“Dude, how the heck do you think that would work? There’d be high rises popping up all over the place. It would be chaos! There are limits in Havenspire. There have to be; otherwise, it would be like everyone running around with God-mode switched on. Can you imagine what that would be like?”
The unnamed nodded. “Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Progressing in rank only means something when there are rules to the world that can’t be broken.”
“Exactly,” Tusk continued. “So, you see my point. If there are seventy rooms in this Rat Run, then someone had to design and build those rooms. They might have some fancy way of shrinking them down or cycling through them, but at some point, someone needed to build them. If there are a bunch more than seventy, because they want to swap out rooms all the time, then they’d have to build even more.”
“And you don’t think they did build them all?”
The half-orc shook his head. “Of course not. They just tell us all that there are seventy rooms to clear so we’ll freak out, then they change the rules mid-way and use some excuse to make it seem even more difficult. Trust me, they’re gonna change the rules again. You just wait.”
Vella frowned. “And what if they don’t? What if we now have to clear a lot more rooms in a much shorter timeframe?”
Tusk shrugged. “Then we’re well and truly flapjacked!”
The unnamed nodded. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”