Eight Era, cycle 1720 – cycle of the lost sheep, season of Unkh, day 288
Rui passed around a bowl of mixed salad dressed with salted, pressed olives and still-warm bread, much to the amazement of the group.
‘How’d you do that?’ Joha asked, amazed, taking a bit of the still-crisp salad.
Rui passed Joha his backpack and asked him what was different about it.
‘Well, the style is different, but then you’d expect that, as most places have different styles. It’s light – very light – so it isn’t a normal bag; maybe some sort of bag of holding, but it’s rigid, so most people will think it’s a normal bag. Clever,’ Joha said, going to hand it back.
But Rui shook his head. ‘That’s not it,’ he responded.
Joha turned it over and passed it to Yami, who looked it over and passed it to Bethan, who – as well as looking it over – looked inside it.
‘Ah, now you’re warmer,’ Rui offered.
‘Is it something about the spell?’ Anthony suggested, interested. ‘Or something about its shape, like Joha said?’
Rui shook his head.
‘Well, you’ve got no food left in here,’ Bethan mused, scrolling through the bag’s inventory.
‘I don’t need any,’ Rui replied.
Anthony took the bag thoughtfully. ‘A lot of spaces taken up with unusable slots?’
Rui nodded encouragingly.
‘Spaces you can’t use or put things into?’ Anthony added.
‘The two are quite different principles,’ Rui said, smiling.
‘You’ve linked bags?’ Yami realised suddenly.
Rui clapped his hands together. ‘Quite correct.’
‘I have heard of this idea,’ Yami continued, taking the bag off Anthony and looking inside it dismissively.
‘I don’t understand,’ Anthony said.
‘You see, I have some spaces that are attuned to a separate location, so when a friend places items in the paired location I can get access to them. That means I always have fresh food ready; orange, anyone?’ Rui asked, pulling out an orange that still had a part of the green branch attached to it.
‘But why? The special dimensions of bags of this type allow for a semi-stasis as it is, meaning food stays fresher for longer,’ Joha explained.
‘Well, this way I can have a varied diet. I have a friend in the kitchen who makes me fresh food each day, and we can pass notes in case I have a craving.’
‘Very clever,’ Joha declared, slapping his thigh and laughing.
‘Now I have revealed my secrets, tell me about yours. What brings you here? Not just why come, but why you four?’ Rui asked, biting into a square of strong-flavoured goat’s cheese.
‘We are a party from Trist; I’m level 20, and I’m training to be a wastelander for the True God’s Right Arm (a wastelander is like a ranger, except rangers are largely for forests, and wastelanders are more suited to deserts). We are all in training, and part of the training is to go out on quests; this is actually one of the most exciting quests we could have got! Mostly, they all sound grandiose but end up being rather timid,’ Joha maintained.
‘And why do you wish to join the Right Arm? What drives you?’ Rui asked, finding this young man a bit too forthright.
‘Well, I love exploring. There’s something about a forgotten fort, a dried-up riverbed or a natural dungeon that just gets my blood pumping. And I need to be better than my brother; he’s the golden boy – the once in a generation talent that my parents and the bishops all drool over. I’m tired of being the forgotten one and the one left behind,’ Joha grumbled, punching a fist into a palm.
‘I’m just in it for the money; hit a big haul and buy a tavern – that’s my dream,’ Anthony announced.
‘I want to rescue a young prince and be offered his hand in marriage,’ Yami explained.
Bethan made a noise with her lips. ‘Pfft, no royal family is going to marry a prince off to another man, they’re only interested in propagation. You can’t continue your lineage with a same-sex partnership.’
‘He could be the third and youngest brother; I’m not fussy,’ Yami said.
‘Well, I just like killing monsters,’ stated Bethan.
‘She has anger issues,’ Anthony whispered to Rui.
‘Who’s your friend?’ Joha asked; the group had hardly taken their eyes off Tayo.
‘Tayo; he’s a wandering wilbury,’ Rui said in such an offhanded way that everyone nodded and neglected to ask what that meant.
‘He doesn’t say much,’ pondered Joha.
Rui replied, ‘He doesn’t speak this language.’
‘At least he looks like he can fight; speaking of which, we should go,’ Bethan said, standing and stretching.
*
Unfortunately for Bethan, the first room they entered was a puzzle room and not a monster room. At the front of the room was a plaque with a picture of a strange stringed instrument in the shape of an animal. The group largely ignored it, striding into the room and looking around unimpressed, so it was only Rui who studied the image with interest, desperate for anything that could reveal more about the curious gnomes who had lived here.
A sudden abrupt scream cut through Rui’s thoughts, and he peered around the plaque to see the group gathered around a hole in the floor.
‘Yami, Yami!’ Joha screamed, lying on his belly, his hand hanging over the hole.
‘What happened?’ Rui asked, approaching the stunned group.
‘The floor just dropped as Yami was standing on it,’ Anthony replied, his voice drained of emotion.
Rui studied the tiles; they showed no obvious sign of being trapped. He then pulled Joha back gently and peered through the gap, casting a light and looking around at the underside of the floor, and then down the long drop to the broken form of Yami. It was clear he hadn’t survived.
‘Move back to the front of the room very carefully; we need to study what happened here,’ Rui said.
‘What about Yami?’ Joha questioned, struggling to free himself from Tayo’s grip, but he never stood a chance.
‘I’m sorry, young Joha, but he is lost to us,’ Rui confirmed gently.
‘No, Yami! We’ve been friends since we were children.’ Joha said softly.
‘I am sorry, Joha,’ Rui said, turning his attention to the floor. The first part of the room was simple stone, but the second part of the room was a strange mishmash of colours and shapes. Rui squatted down and tried to make sense of the floor by looking for any patterns or clues as to what had happened and how to avoid it.
Rui noticed the same face as the creature in the plaque, and – as that realisation dawned – he noticed that the design on the floor was the same as on the plaque, just jumbled up.
‘Have you discovered how Yami died?’ Joha asked.
Rui turned to see the three friends of Yami had all approached. ‘I cannot say for sure. You see the image on the plaque by the entrance? It is played out before us on some of these tiles on the floor. Logic would dictate that we step on the picture to match the plaque to make it across safely. However, the shape is out of pattern here; why is that? What does that mean?’ Rui replied.
‘Perhaps we need to move the tiles to make the shape?’ Anthony suggested.
‘But how? I have no spells of telekinesis,’ Rui stated.
‘Hey, check this out,’ Bethan said, pointing at a recess in the floor with something similar to marbles placed inside it. ‘There’s a gap here, just like the missing tile on the floor.’
They gathered round the recess, and Rui moved one of the strange orbs; there was a grinding sound, and they looked around and noticed a tile of the patterned floor had moved.
‘So this is a representation of the trap; there is a free space to allow the tiles to move, yet with only one free place this will take a long time to solve,’ Rui said thoughtfully. ‘And you can’t punch your way through this one, Tayo.’
Tayo shrugged and sat down out of the way, uninterested.
Rui moved tiles around whilst Joha pulled out a rope, handed it to Tayo and tied it around Tayo’s wrist.
‘Will you please tell… uh, what was his name?’ Joha enquired.
‘His name is Tayo. What are you attempting?’ Rui responded.
‘Tayo, hold this please,’ Joha said pointing to the rope. ‘I’m going to reclaim Yami’s body; we can’t just leave him here.’
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‘Really? If I die on a mission, then leave me where I drop. Anywhere is better than home,’ Bethan proposed.
By the time Rui had deciphered the puzzle, Joha had recovered Yami’s body and wrapped it in a large cloth, which Joha had bought as a cover in case of cold nights.
‘So do we just leave him here for now and pick him up on the way back?’ Anthony asked hesitantly.
‘In my experience, a new passage opens as a short cut back to the start once we defeat the final room,’ Rui said. ‘As there was a portal room, I assume the shortcut will link back there.’
‘So we take him with us,’ Joha declared, nodding.
‘I agree with the young lady; Bethan, was it? You will lose many comrades, and you cannot carry them all back. By all means take young Yami with you; Tayo can carry him with ease. But some advice, if I may: it might help if you start to accept the fact that not everyone will return on any quest and to come to terms with burying them in foreign lands. Find peace where you can.’
‘Perhaps, but not today,’ Joha stated with finality in his voice.
*
The corridor expanded into a large, dilapidated room; the floor appeared to be cracked and snapped, with large pillars hanging from the celling or growing up from a black emptiness. In some places, the floor was suspended between pillars that had snapped and seemingly caught the floor by chance, and in other places the floor seemed to be holding the pillars up rather than vice versa.
‘Is this a trap room with the trap already triggered?’ Joha asked.
‘Possibly, or this could be an athletic challenge; gnomes can be dexterous.’ Rui replied.
‘There’s a lever up there,’ Bethan noted, pointing.
‘Alright, who wants to test the dangerous assault course and pull the ominous lever?’ Joha enquired, looking around; there were no takers. ‘Very well, never ask others to do what you aren’t prepared to do yourself.’
Joha stretched his neck, rolled his shoulders and flexed his arms. ‘Here I go,’ he said, doing a few small jumps on the spot.
‘In your own time,’ Bethan declared.
‘Thank you,’ Joha replied tartly.
Joha took off in a sprint; he staggered his approach to the edge of the floor and jumped towards a broken pillar a good distance away. He sailed through the air, with the drop beneath him like the waiting maw of a black beast, gravity caught hold and pulled Joha down, and he slammed chest first into a pillar and, winded, let out a grunt of pain.
‘Nice catch; I could barely see it, as it was moving so fast,’ Bethan called.
‘Ha, ha,’ Joha retorted as he caught his breath. He stood and judged the next gap, swinging his hands back and forth, and rocking his legs to add momentum.
‘That doesn’t help, you know; it’s all in the mind,’ Bethan hollered.
It was an impressive jump; Joha nearly kicked his own height, but the distance was poor, and he hit the pillar with nothing to grab hold of. Joha pushed out a hand and desperately pulled up a leg, using it like a spring to kick off from the pillar, hoping to reach a nearby stalagmite. He shot his hand out and willed his arm to grow longer. There were cries as Joha hit the stalagmite and slid down, but his fingers gripped something, and he held on. His fingers screamed in pain as he gripped for all he was worth and scrambled for the best purchase he could acquire.
‘You’ve fucked yourself now!’ Bethan yelled helpfully.
Joha used the irregular shape of the stalagmite to climb higher, scraping the skin off his fingers as he fought for fingerholds on the rough stone. After all, as his life depended on how secure his grip was, so – even as the stone tore strips of flesh off his fingers – Joha held on and cast around for his next platform.
There was a slab of floor that Joha thought he might be able to reach, there wasn’t any going back, so at this point it was do or die – or at least do or stay on this stalagmite for good.
Joha moved his feet carefully, testing his weight and grip. He slipped a few times, and his fingers sang with pain as time and again they were his sole purchase on the stalagmite. Finally, Joha felt his footing was stable and, with his heart in his throat, he released his grip slowly.
With a great deal of trepidation, Joha bent his knees; took a deep, slow breath; and jumped. Almost instantly, his hands grabbed at the slab of floor, and he clenched as his body swung forwards slightly from momentum. His fingers were burning from abuse as he tried to pull up, and Joha felt the world shifting oddly. He looked up curiously to try to find the cause for the strange sensations, and he noticed the floor he was gripping was starting to tilt, as it rested on a pivot. Joha pulled harder, desperate to pull himself up before the tilting floor slid off its pivot and plummeted to the floor, crushing him beneath it.
Joha finally managed to pull his chest up, even as blood from his fingers ran into his eyes. The room was at an angle, which made his stomach uncomfortable, but he was able to scrabble and get the rest of his body up. He crouched instead of standing, with the angle making him unsteady on his feet. He shimmed across the floor as it continued to tilt to steeper angles, and his feet started to slide at the acuteness of the floor even as he tried to scurry quicker. He staggered and fell due to the precipitous angle of the floor, and Joha spread his limbs like a starfish. He shimmied upwards like a tree climber, gripping the floor with whichever part of his body he could.
As the floor tilted further, Joha realised he wouldn’t make it at his slow rate, so he got to his feet like a boxer who had taken one too many hits; with legs pumping and heart thudding, Joha’s eyes whirled desperately to find his next jump. There was nowhere he could see, and with blind faith Joha aimed roughly for where he thought a pillar had been and flung his body through the air.
‘Ouch,’ Bethan said wincing.
Joha had jumped wildly and smashed his shins into a broken pillar, collapsing onto it in an untidy heap. ‘Owwie,’ Joha groaned.
He got gingerly to his feet and swallowed. He was regretting his course of action and really didn’t want to continue; he just wanted to be on the ground and safe. After a few deep breaths, he studied the next part of his route: small flimsy pillars and little enough room for one foot. So he jumped and hopped between them like a game of hopscotch played above an endless drop.
Joha landed on a small platform that was just large enough for both his feet, so he stopped and checked his next jump. He tapped his toe on the floor, judging the distance; it was further than he would have liked, but maybe he could take a few little steps to get some extra momentum?
Joha took a baby step backwards and froze when there was a sudden sound of wood cracking; he had just enough time to look down before the platform he stood upon lurched. He staggered and tried to adjust his footing when the platform collapsed sideways, and Joha fell backwards, striking the platform with his back and trying desperately to grab at it. He caught a handhold as he fell, and his arm jerked as he stopped suddenly. His heart was beating so fast he thought it might give out as he once more pulled himself onto a makeshift platform.
‘I think it was meant to do that; you can reach the next platform now,’ Bethan called.
Sure enough, Joha clambered onto a large, flat surface and collapsed.
‘I want to cry, but I’ve got too much adrenaline; I think I’m going to vomit,’ Joha moaned catching his breath.
Joha lowered himself so he overhung the floor and then started to shuffle sideways using handholds he’d seen in the walls of the room itself. He shuffled until a platform was behind him, and then he kicked off against the wall and landed heavily on his back.
‘Nice; very graceful,’ Bethan noted.
‘I’m going to shove my foot gracefully up your arse,’ Joha muttered.
After standing, Joha shimmed across a balance beam; his nerves were frayed, and he was expecting something to go wrong at any moment.
‘Bats!’ shouted Bethan
Joha dived to the floor, nearly falling off the platform he’d reached.
‘My bad,’ she apologised, ‘It was just my own fringe.’
Shaking, Joha got to his feet, started the final assault to the lever and stepped forwards – right onto a pressure plate that released large wooden beams to swing across his path. The beams swung in alternating pairs; this meant that he only had a few seconds before the next beam crossed his path. Every other set of beams was offset, so he couldn’t run straight through; he would be forced to stop, and if his timing was off, he’d be on the receiving end of what looked like a tonne of wood swinging with some speed.
Joha stepped forwards and paused as a beam passed, and his hair was ruffled in its passing. He jumped forwards to avoid the backswing and took a half-step back, realising he’d overstepped, as a beam swung right at where he was standing. His step back made him walk into the side of a beam, just missing stepping into its path by half a second. As the beam swung past, his backpack snagged on its coarse side, tugging at his backpack and nearly dragging him off the platform.
Joha stepped forwards again, waited as a beam tore through the air in front of him, took a few quick steps to avoid two more beams, and then jumped through the last beam and clear of the final trap – or so he thought – when a beam he hadn’t noticed smashed into him, throwing him to the ground in an explosion of agony. Rolling onto his back, Joha gripped his side, feeling warm blood seeping through his clothing.
‘Come on, man; we’ve not got all day!’ Bethan yelled.
Joha grumbled under his breath and checked his battle log for the severity of the damage.
Battle log:
Hit a passing blow by a log trap for 200 impact-damage points.
2,200 health points lost.
Bleed damage by blunt force, 5 damage points a second for 2 hours.
Pressure applied; 1 health point lost every 3 seconds.
Blunt-force bleed damage will not heal truly; the duration is increased, and you will continue to receive 1 damage point each week for every hour of damage suffered or until healed. Bleed damage inflicted by blunt force requires more healing magicka to reach full health.
Joha cursed; a blunt-force bleed? Lasting damage? There was a bruise the size of his face over his ribs; if that was anything to go by, then he’d have reduced movement. Also pain was able to cancel abilities, and with bruised ribs it meant movement abilities were likely to fail until his ribs were healed.
‘You still alive?’ Bethan called; there was a slight hint of concern – albeit not much.
‘And what would you do if I said no?’ Joha asked.
‘Throw a rock at you to see if you were lying or not.’
Joha grunted and got to his feet; he shifted his shoulders, let his backpack drop and pulled from it a flask of health-infused water. It would restore around 50 health points to him (that figure wasn’t the same for everyone), and he’d hoped it would reduce the bleed time.
50 health points restored; 5 bleed-damage points every 10 seconds for the next 1 hour 30 minutes.
Joha did some quick maths; an hour and a half was 90 minutes, call it 100 for a rounded figure. With 5 health points every 10 seconds, and 60 seconds in a minute, so that would be 30 health points a minute over 100 minutes, so 30 with two extra zeroes was 3,000. He had 1,950 health points left, due to the high bleed before he drank the potion, so call it 2,000 life points. That meant he needed an extra 1,000 life points or he’d die. At 50 health points a potion, that was twenty potions; he had seven. It was time to panic!
Yes, his friends had potions, but they were expecting a boss battle coming up, so every life point and potion counted; he was going to die!
Joha shuffled over to the lever and pulled it; there was a satisfying clunk, and he looked over to see the exit opening.
‘Cheers!’ Bethan declared, striding off.
Joha looked around unsure of how to get back.
‘Tayo will catch you,’ Rui said, motioning for Joha to jump.
‘Um, I don’t really have life points to spare,’ Joha replied hesitantly.
‘You’ll be fine; he’ll catch you, and you won’t lose any life points. I’ve done this type of thing before,’ Rui explained, not adding that his previous experience of something “like” this was jumping into a hay cart from 7 feet. Not into the hands of a beast from what would possibly be 40 feet: 30 feet down and 10 feet across.
‘Er, if you’re sure,’ Joha stated.
‘Of course I am!’ Rui replied, adding for Anthony’s behalf. ‘Not that I’d do it, mind you.’
Joha took a couple of steps back, swallowed a few times before running forwards – as softly as he could due to his injury – and jumped from the ledge. His jump was far short, and he plummeted down, missing the platform the others stood on by several feet. As he dropped past them he closed his eyes, at least the others could escape.
Tayo didn’t even grunt as he moved forwards with alarming speed and bent down to catch Joha as he dropped short, lifting Joha up like he was a pillow.
Joha opened one scrunched-up eye and looked around, then opened the other in surprise.
‘Oh wow; fantastic! You were right!’ Joha exclaimed clapping Rui on the back and trying to shake Tayo’s hand. Tayo didn’t know what Joha was doing, and Joha couldn’t move Tayo’s arm as much as an inch. Joha settled for slapping Tayo’s arm affectionately instead.