Eight Era, cycle 1721 – cycle of the squatting dog, season of Unkh, day 290
It took a long time to reach the Crag, and they found that the gate blocking the entrance was one of the most dishevelled bits of metalwork they’d seen underground. It must have been made in a hurry and then not set properly in the gateway. Dust coated the gate; there were jagged edges everywhere and barely a straight line to it. When it opened, which it did when someone gave the code word, it did so along with heavy clunks and painfully loud squeaks of dry metal, plus a few flakes of rust.
‘This land is hot and dry; does everyone have at least 5 litres of water on them?’ Alban addressed the party.
‘Is it really that bad?’ Holly asked.
‘Lass, this is as close to Dr’vall as you’ll ever get,’ Alban replied. (Dr’vall, pronounced Dha-Vail, is the legendary furnace of the gods. So, in this context, Alban is referring to the heat and arid air of a furnace made from the core of a planet.)
Quest update: land dispute
The roads are perilous, and the Crag is a natural death trap, with its scorching heat and challenging terrain, plus being littered with trolls.
The next part of your quest is simple: survive.
‘Phew, it’s a bit toasty,’ Ember said, fanning her armpits.
They stepped out into a bright landscape scattered with broken rocks, and the heat was unforgiving.
‘What’s causing it?’ Holly asked, shading her eyes.
‘Lava, mostly,’ Five Nine replied.
‘This is a graveyard, so be respectful,’ Ash reminded them as he stepped out into the bleak landscape.
‘Where’d all these rocks come from? The other highways were smooth; this is like an iron giant took a sledgehammer to a mountain,’ Ember added.
‘They are – were – trolls,’ Lyre confirmed.
‘What? Trolls aren’t real,’ said Holly before Ember could say anything.
‘A few are still live, but this is why surface dwellers don’t believe in trolls. They’re here, broken and scattered. It makes for some hard walking, forever stepping over rocks, around bluffs or climbing over boulders. It gets physically and mentally exhausting,’ Lyre explained.
‘You don’t say! I can’t see the ground; it’s just broken rocks as far as the eye can see,’ Ember agreed.
Holly asked, ‘What happened?’
‘The Troll War,’ Clang said simply, ‘My grandfather is out there… somewhere. Dead obviously; he died in the third year of the war. He was a pathfinder, and more than 70% of the pathfinders died. They used to call pathfinders ‘the eights’, as the average lifespan was eight days. We’ve fought many wars, but never one that was so consistently taxing. At every battle, we suffered at least 40% casualties. It’s estimated there were only around 1,000 trolls. The tragedy is that after years of fighting, we discovered that this was the nesting ground of the trolls. They were just defending their young, but no one spoke troll. When we discovered the first crèche and realised what this place was, well, it was too late for peace. We’d killed too many of them for them to stop, and so many dwarfs had died that many dwarfs also refused to stop; they wanted revenge for their friends and family. Such a waste! Now we have these dead lands, 36,720 dead dwarfs and nearly the totality of the troll race perished. Every boulder you see is a part of a troll; dwarfs still come here for loot, and the odd bit of experience as there are still some trolls that are alive yet scattered in 100 pieces. The trolls are a resilient race, but even they can’t survive without their breeding grounds. The light and heat is natural; it’s why the trolls like it. This entire place is just an embarrassment to us. We were the aggressors; we were the fiendish invading force killing children. But we didn’t know! We thought the trolls were just an aggressive race. It must have been jilk at first (in essence, jilk is the dwarf version of hell; however, they have no true equivalent to hell); you see, the trolls feel no pain, and their bodies are ill designed for showing fear, so they were thought to be true monsters. They’re also incredibly difficult to kill. They suffer no bleed damage: you cut an arm off, and they hardly react. Or you break their head off, and your menu still registers no kill. Only when the head is destroyed do you see a kill confirmation. For a long time, they were thought to be immortal. More than one dwarf was lost to fear and fled the battlefield, or died through exposure, exhaustion or dehydration.’
‘Most human legions kill deserters,’ Holly cut in.
‘Dwarfs can’t desert; where’re they going to go?’ Ash retorted.
‘Well… to a different city. You know, disappear into a new city,’ Holly explained, confused.
‘She’s still thinking like a surface dweller,’ Ember added helpfully. ‘Holly, that wouldn’t work with dwarfs. All dwarfs belong to the same community, so if you flee from one dwarf army, you’re running from all of them. No matter how far you run, the dwarfs you run into belong to the same king. So you literally can’t desert from the dwarfs without changing race.’
‘Is that true?’ Holly said in disbelief.
‘That’s right, lass,’ Alban confirmed.
‘I see; you’re very different. Perhaps that would explain it…’ Holly mused.
*
Walking in the arid landscape was tough; Ember felt thirstier than she ever remembered having felt before, and for the first time in her life, she actually fantasised about having a drink. The cool refreshing relief, the warm burn spreading down her throat, the spread of fluid flooding her veins, the lessening of consciousness as the vodka hit her brain and her ability to sweat! She’d been thirsty before, but she’d never realised how dehydration could really affect your thinking. She stumbled over a larger rock; there was a warning icon in her interface about heat sapping her energy, and her stamina was starting to get critically low. Ember found she was beginning to get genuinely angry with the uneven footing on offer, and she resented every misshapen rock. She stepped onto one, and it gave way, twisting her foot, which would have turned her ankle if it weren’t for the protection of her high boots. Gritting her teeth in anger, Ember poured her magic down her foot and froze the rock, which shattered at the sudden switch in temperature.
Battle log:
Troll suffers 300 ice-damage points, damage squared due to environmental conditions (it was being baked for hundreds of years)
Final damage of 90,000 damage points
Level 121 troll dies, 4,114 experience points gained
You’ve defeated a creature 3x your level, experience points x3, 12,342 experience points gained (77,737 experience points to the next level)
New badges awarded:
Overkill 1, you’ve dealt over 5x the damage required to kill your target, ↑↑↑↑↑ to all weapons skills
Limit breaker 1, you’ve dealt your first 10,000+ attack, and you’re guaranteed to see at least one weakness when you use any ability to assess a target
Limit breaker 2, you’ve dealt your first 50,000+ attack, next limit breaker is at 100,000+ damage
New skill: ability rest
Once a week, you’re able to remove the cool-down of any ability
Let’s be honest, that was a fluke 1, ↑↑↑↑↑ to luck
‘Nice work, that levelled me up!’ Norton exclaimed.
‘Wow!’ Holly said, looking at Ember strangely.
Ember shrugged. ‘It looked at me funny.’
‘It wouldn’t pay to underestimate you,’ Holly responded with a laugh.
Ember didn’t bother to correct anyone and tell them it was a mistake, as having a reputation might prove useful. She bent down and picked up a few fragments of what turned out to have been the troll’s skull; she wanted to run the frozen rock against her forehead, but it was already warm to the touch.
‘How can anyone stand this? The heat is physically draining. I’ve got a heat-stroke status effect taking 5 stamina points a minute. Unless I cool down, my endurance is capped at a reduced level,’ Ember whined.
‘It isn’t so bad; it can’t even be more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit,’ Holly replied.
‘I’ve spent more of my life in the mountains; I like snow, not sand. Not that there’s any sand here; it’s just rocks,’ complained Ember.
Holly chatted on: ‘I thought there’d be more singing; you know, dwarfs are meant to sing.’
‘Aye, I’ve heard that before. How’d you like your kneecaps?’ Five Nine asked.
‘Er, I guess they’re okay,’ Holly replied, feeling confused.
‘Well, if you want to keep them, then don’t say that again,’ Five Nine stated simply.
‘Ah.’ Holly was now feeling a little uncomfortable.
‘What the bollocks?’ Ember ejaculated, and they all turned to look at her. She was at the front of the group and was rubbing her forehead.
‘What happened?’ Alban questioned.
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‘I’m not sure,’ Ember said. She reached out a hand and placed it before her, palm out.
‘What are you doing?’ Zyol challenged. He strode past her and then stopped suddenly, like a cartoon character walking into a pane of glass.
‘There’s something funny going on.’ Zyol’s voice was muffled. He pulled back and brought out his axe, slamming the butt of his axe against the air.
‘Are you two alright?’ Ash asked.
‘There’s some sort of ward or barrier in the air,’ Ember theorised.
All the dwarfs moved forwards and tested their air; there was nothing in front of them, yet they couldn’t physically pass any further.
It was Lyre who identified the source of the strange interference. ‘It’s a spell,’ he stated.
‘Well, of course it’s a bloody spell! What else could it be, right? How do we get past it?’ Zyol demanded.
Lyre scratched his beard and entered into consultation with Alban; after a while, Norton joined the conversation, and finally, the three nodded and turned back to the party.
‘It’s an inverted barrier: a simple barrier to stop anyone from passing, but inverted, which is why it’s invisible. Barriers are simple, and there’s lots of ways of dispelling them, but its inversion makes it more difficult…’ Lyre started to explain and then tailed off, as he obviously had no idea how to get past the barrier.
‘There’ll be a symbol to unlock it; once you find the symbol you… well, look at it and then you turn back to the barrier, and it’ll open.’ Ember spoke like she was recounting something.
Everyone looked at her.
‘I’ve had to get past one before; I needed to steal some sort of scroll. I got a taboo rating for that.’
‘If we can’t see the barrier, how do we match the symbol?’ Alban enquired.
‘Well, when it’s inverted, then the symbol is placed on the other side of the barrier, so the symbol is that side of the barrier.’ Ember pointed past the barrier that was stopping them. ‘So we look past the barrier; when we find the symbol, we look at it for a few seconds and something in the spell harmonises – or some bollocks – and then the barrier dissolves. So what’s a good dwarven symbol? I’m assuming you guys made it.’
‘An axe.’ Zyol raised his axe.
‘A pickaxe more like,’ Ash countered.
‘Good dwarven bread,’ Five Nine added.
They all seemed to be looking at Ember.
‘Well, I don’t know what a dwarven symbol is! Start looking!’ Ember ordered.
The dwarfs made embarrassed noises and started moving around.
‘Should we deactivate the barrier?’ Clang offered philosophically.
‘What d’you mean, boy?’ Ash asked.
‘Well, it strikes me that – although we’re thinking it’s keeping us out, and it is – someone on that side…’ Clang pointed through the barrier, ‘will be thinking it’s keeping them in.’
‘Ah,’ Five Nine said taking a step back. ‘That’s a fair point.’
‘I wouldn’t worry; to dispel this barrier would take more than a simple symbol. More accurately, what we’re doing is opening the door for us to pass through; it will close itself behind us. No worries,’ Lyre stated.
*
After a few hours of futile searching, Ash gave a triumphant call and pointed to a distant rock, which looked like any old rock to Holly’s and Ember’s untrained eyes.
‘What are we looking at, fellas?’ Holly enquired.
‘In that distant rock formation, the stra’thalis and ung’hull are juxtaposed between a thallo and a tung,’ Alban explained, and the dwarfs nodded. (The dwarf terms are mostly untranslatable. They relate to special aspects of the rocks – such as their albedo and porous nature – but on a far more technical level. My geology is level 20 and not nearly high enough to understand how to pronounce any of it, let alone understand it!)
‘What the fuck was that? It sounded like you sneezed whilst shitting yourself,’ Ember said.
There were sighs and some almost good natured ribbing.
‘Just take it from us that the white rock shouldn’t be there,’ Alban declared.
‘Right. Next time, just say that,’ Ember requested, and then she stepped through the barrier.
It was rather anticlimactic; they walked through the barrier, each of them touching it as they passed through to make sure it was still in place – and it was – and a terrible, monstrous beast failed to jump out at them.
‘Onwards, ever onwards,’ Alban stated, leading the way once more.
‘So why does an old battle ground need to be locked away?’ Ash asked pointedly.
‘Oh, now you think to ask!’ Zyol grunted, as though the thought had already occurred to him.
‘Probably just to keep adventurers out; maybe the king is sick of people dying from exposure as they try to find lost treasures and shit,’ Ember offered.
‘There. A perfectly reasonable suggestion,’ Lyre concurred with a nod.
They walked on, and regardless of Lyre’s assertion, they all kept a wary eye out.
‘This place has rivers of lava, right? And magically charged rocks or whatnot. This is causing a bright illumination, which basically means the only shadows we cast are directly at our feet, true?’ Ember questioned.
‘What of it?’ Zyol replied.
‘Well, what’s causing those shadows?’ Ember pointed at a shallow dark patch in the crude outline of a person.
‘Them? You’ve not seen a hollow man before?’ Ash asked, surprised.
‘No, why should I have?’ Ember challenged.
‘I thought they formed wherever there’s been a war,’ Ash answered.
Norton added, ‘This must have been a desperate retreat if the land hasn’t been cleansed.’
‘Which explains the barrier,’ Zyol grunted.
‘Hollow men aren’t so bad; they tend to have fewer than 5 life points. Just don’t let them get behind you; their attacks bypass armour and defensive stats, and they get a critical bonus times three for the back attack. Saying that, I’ve never known anyone to put up a barrier to protect against hollow men.’ Alban sounded scornful.
However, as they walked and the amount of hollow men increased, Ember couldn’t help but think that Alban might be wrong.
They stopped for the night near a lava pit. They used a large rock on the edge of the pit as a griddle to cook chunks of meat (don’t ask what meat), and as the meat oozed its fatty goodness, they gorged themselves. The dwarfs seemed immune to scalding their fingers, but Ember and Holly had to juggle the steaming meat from hand to hand.
*
It was Ember’s watch; she puffed on a dwarven cigar and wondered idly how she was meant to fall asleep after her watch was over. The problem with keeping the penultimate watch before morning was that she’d all but woken up by the time her watch was over. Now she wasn’t going to be tired enough to fall asleep in the heat. On the plus side, the heat meant her muscles weren’t aching after the long marches.
Something flickered in the corner of her vision; a hollow man strode around erratically. It would take a few steps and then flicker before disappearing and reappearing somewhere else. The way it was flickering around meant that Ember wasn’t sure if it was one hollow man or a group of them taking it in turns to scout out the area. Ember watched, not really convinced it was a group of hollow men. Another blur in the corner of her vision caught her attention; she turned to see a hollow man. Her eyes flicked from one side of her party’s camp to the other. Now she was convinced that there were at least two hollow men. The fact that they didn’t appear together put her on edge.
Ember backed away from the hollow men until they were both in her sight at once. She twisted her head, remembering the comment that they liked back attacks, and found three more closing in from behind. The fact that they came from behind was probably why they were considered men, Ember decided.
‘Ambush!’ she shouted, and then she pulled dual knives from her belt before throwing herself at the hollow men.
As promised, they disappeared after a single hit, and Ember found herself in a routine of strike, feint in one direction, turn and strike, roll to the side, and repeat.
Battle log:
Strike hollow man for 61 slash-damage points
Hollow man level 74 dies
Strike hollow man for 54 slash-damage points
Hollow man level 82 dies
Strike hollow man for 56 slash-damage points
Hollow man level 121 dies
Strike hollow man for 63 slash-damage points
Hollow man level 67 dies
Strike hollow man for 58 slash-damage points
Hollow man level 64 dies
Strike hollow man for 72 slash-damage points
Hollow man level 89 dies
She was able to take out six of them before she noticed that Clang, Lyre and Alban were struggling. They didn’t have the footwork to fight whilst outnumbered; their strikes were powerful but slow, and their footwork was stable on the uneven terrain, but they moved in time with a slow metronome and soon became entangled in fights they couldn’t win.
Ember sprinted and threw a dagger at a hollow man that had appeared behind Clang, whilst she charged at another hollow man crowding Alban. She hit that hollow man side-on and passed straight through him, like passing through a waterfall. She landed hard and rolled to her feet, clutching her shoulder after landing harder than she expected.
Battle log:
Hollow man impervious to physical damage
Strike floor for 3 blunt-damage points; dumb arse!
‘Iron or magic!’ Lyre screamed as the blade of a hollow man bypassed his armour and cut more than half of his health off in one hit.
Ember summoned an ice dagger, but just then, a massive explosion erupted from close by; rock dust burst into the air, making her cough.
‘Party, to me! To me!’ Zyol bellowed.
Boon: rallying point
Zyol has used his rallying-point ability. For the next 2 minutes, you’ll know exactly where he is in relation to you.
Ember sprinted and reached Zyol just as Ash unleashed another bombardment from his volley gun.
‘We run!’ Zyol commanded, as a sea of hollow men spread out before them. ‘Retreat!’
They turned, but a group of hollow men had already penned them in.
‘Now what?’ Holly demanded.
‘There’s always the train,’ Norton offered.
‘What’s a train?’ Ember asked, confused as to how it could help.
‘No time to explain; after me!’ Zyol ordered, and he sprinted off.
On flat land, dwarfs weren’t fast, but the advantage they had was torque. They could run at a constant speed all day, downhill or uphill; it made no difference to them.
Unfortunately, it made no difference to the hollow men either; as the group sprinted, the hollow men kept pace in their strange stop-motion movement. Ember was quickly out of breath in the heat and due to the sharp incline, not to mention the mental drain of the uneven terrain. It was so dry that she didn’t have the benefit of sweat dampening her face.
Soon, they came across a large split in the ground: a narrow-yet-deep gorge that was making the strangest of sounds. Flat, black metal appeared a few feet below the edge of the gorge, and the strange sounds echoed; somehow, Ember got the impression of movement.
‘Jump!’ Zyol shouted, and he jumped into the gorge and disappeared.
The dwarfs followed. Ember and Holly exchanged baffled glances, but as the hollow men descended on them, Ember shrugged and threw herself into the black abyss.