(Y6, December 13th)
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The trio found a few more of the cats on the way and a pair of boar creatures with spikes crowning their heads like those of a hybrid giant hedgehog. None of the creatures were particularly challenging for the group now that they had experience facing the purple felines, but they made for distractions on the trek. And, of course, handy skill percentages for the mandated progression.
They got close to the location detected by Quandocor by mid-afternoon. A cursory check on the printed wiki pages from Vantegaard had him conclude they were at the right place.
“Stuff is a set of natural-type caves, except one has been reinforced and set up like some subterranean home, chair and dresser and all. Including an empty bed frame, if you can imagine that.”
“An empty bed frame? Seriously?” Birkathane said.
“That’s what the wiki said: rectangular metal frame with legs, nothing in it, no traces of bedding or anything. I assume the bed part is a guess. Discovered and explored by a Brethren-led group mid-Y4.”
She shook her head, clearly feeling the idea ridiculous.
“Still got one item in it, as far as I can tell unless there’s one with higher levels than I can sense. Of course, I don’t have the precision to figure out where exactly it is nor what it is,” Quandocor confirmed.
“Dungeon items are extremely rare after the initial exploration and clear unless people were sloppy during that one.”
“Where do they come from?” Quandocor asked.
“Nobody knows how those items come back. You have people – Historicianus forum users – who insist this is actually a videogame, and we’re in suspended animation by the Silvergates while we play in virtual reality, so it’s all done by fiat. Creatures have at least an ecology, even if it is horribly simple compared to Earth’s, and each and every animal type breeds and grows like rabbits.”
“I remember that. Well, where did all our gear come from if it's all virtual? The crafted items, the raw food, the potions people bring back?”
Vantegaard threw his hands up.
“Logic.”
“Yeah. So we’re lucky here.”
“That’s why Fanduk was so good – everything around there was unexplored. Think about all the weapons we found. And, of course, we had the tower’s broken raid. Most people use crafted items rather than dungeon-found ones. You are more likely to find a Silvergate than an item once the dungeon’s cleared. Those seem to form ‘naturally’.”
He pointed out a depression on the ground between trees. Part of the roots made a kind of entrance over a hole with a slope leading downward.
“Well, the entrance looks to be here,” Vantegaard said.
“Seems correct. My Sense Life and Death does not register anything yet, but I know it’s occupied, so let’s be careful,” Quandocor said.
Sense Life and Death
Tier 2 Perception
Passive, Triggered
Living, dead, all of them are a presence in your mind.
It gives an automatic sense of the local creatures, living, non-living, or formerly living. It provides rating information.
Current max range: 30 m
Incertitude: 7.4% error per rank above 30
Incertitude: 2.2% error per level above 150
Skill level 30 (base 15)
Advancement: 47%
They half-slid, half-walked down. The hole opened up in a kind of tunnel, large enough for one person but no more. More roots sprouted from the ceiling, but they didn’t reach down far enough to be a distraction. Quandocor lit up one of the ever-burning torches they’d brought. Again, he lamented on missing the Night Sense of the other two. They probably did not really need the light even down here, but he definitively did.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
But then, he had other advantages for other things. He knew where the goods were from kilometers away. So, who was he to complain about a trivial advantage?
The tunnel quickly branched. Both paths went slightly down, so Quandocor turned toward his friend – and cartographer – for help.
“Dungeon guide says it’s all interlocked. Go down to go to the ‘chamber room’, and go up to leave. So I guess it does not matter which way we go.”
They ended up taking the right turn. The tunnel went for a few meters before opening into a small cave decorated only by the hanging roots on the ceiling.
The oversized rats inside were not happy to see the trio. The first thing they noted when entering the cave was the enormous teeth the rodents sported on the side, making them more like rat versions of sabretooth. Then, the half dozen rats ran to them just as Vantegaard joined Quandocor, and the combat began.
Vantegaard immediately noted that none of the rats had pretty much anything in terms of aether. Which meant he could play merry hell with them, stuffing them with his own reserves. At least one or two. They wouldn’t blow up, but they would be very, very uncomfortable and suffer ongoing damage.
“Ranks probably 33-ish. 33 to 35,” Quandocor announced.
“Remember, I need those kills. Don’t hog all the rats,” said Birkathane.
“There’s enough for you, I think,” Vantegaard replied while slashing one of the rats.
“So. Rats again?” Birkathane said once they all meditated back to full.
“Most common dungeon creature ever found. Just like Earth, they’re everywhere. There’s rat-like stuff all the way to the top ranks. I think the highest ever found is 160 or something,” Vantegaard replied.
“You could have warned us,” she countered.
“Wiki says rats, bats, and cats. One chance in three,” he replied lightly.
“Where to?” Quandocor asked, pointing to the two tunnels.
“Downward. Okay, both are down, but… the left one seems to be a bit steeper?”
“Left it is, then.”
The next room had a single rat staring at them as if incredulous that bipeds would be invading his lair. They unloaded debuffs and attacks, and the hapless rodent went under in less than twenty seconds.
The room also had three tunnels connecting, but two of them sloped upward, and only one downward, so there was little discussion on which they’d take. They all used their respective Meditations and started down, with Vantegaard leading this time.
The tunnel was slightly larger, though not enough for two people walking side by side. It forked without a room, both sides still going down. Vantegaard picked left again. Before soon, Quandocor warned them of “three critters.”
All in all, the members of the Northworld Rattus genus were not hard for their rank. Despite being a few ranks lower, the purple cats were way harder to deal with than the oversized ravenous rats that had invaded the cave.
In a big way, this suited the three. They took their time, meditating to get back all of their vitals before going to the next cave. It was labyrinthine, but Vantegaard’s printed guide insisted that the overall effect was simple: down equals good, up equals exit. Not a single dead end to be found.
After two more packs of rats, the tunnel they were in did not go much further before leveling off and starting back up, and he could see a side tunnel with a bunch of wooden square logs reinforcing the tunnel.
“Getting to the bed-frame room, I think. Let’s see if there’s something in it?”
It turned out there was. And this time, it was not a rat but a smallish albino-looking humanoid. A very naked humanoid with an obvious male disposition. Vantegaard paused in surprise, and Quandocor left out an exclamation.
“What the?”
The dwarven figure let a shrill scream out and raised his hand. A dark swirling shape formed in it and shot out, hitting Vantegaard just as Birkathane made her way into the room.
“What the?”
Vantegaard immediately invoked his Earth elemental. The dwarf creature grabbed a staff that was leaning on the wall and immediately swung at the pile of rocks, knocking it aside relatively easily and shattering the cohesion of the rocks.
“39ish and looks like it is Lesser Elite,” Quandocor announced as he raised his own silver staff in readiness.
“And lots of Aether levels, it’s definitively a caster. With a big stick,” Vantegaard added as he started debuffing the dwarf that was already facing Birkathane.
The dwarfish albino swung the stick with a single hand, surprising her. She’d have thought it would be only possible two-handed, given it was much taller than him. At least she could block the strikes, which left almost no mark on her leathers. But the other hand was used to cast spells, apparently, as another blob of darkness hit her.
Each blob did only minor damage, but more importantly, they shaved 1 point from a random stat. As she monitored her status at the edge of her sight, she spotted Strength going down another point.
Just as she was trying to figure out how long she could withstand the attack, one of the other two’s debilitating attacks landed and caused the dwarf to emit an even shriller scream that made it look like it had been hit in the… parts down there. Then she felt as if she was hit by a truck and got projected onto the wall, smashing into Quandocor, who was in the way.
“What the…?”
“Saw a brief cloud. It felt like Aether,” Vantegaard said.
“Well, that got a big chunk of my vitals,” she announced.
While the Interface provided a good way to track progression, current state, and vitals, it did not allow groups to work together. You needed to communicate vocally.
“That staff looks ornate,” Birkathane noted as she looked down on the weapon still clutched in the dead dwarf’s hand.
“It sure is. Level 26, based on Aether. I think it’s the item you felt,” Vantegaard said, looking toward Quandocor.
Quandocor bent and lifted the staff from the dwarf’s death grasp. It was a 1.2-meter near-black wood, with coppery ferrules at both ends and a central bronze band. Quandocor’s turned and swished it, feeling its balance. Sparks emerged from one of the ferrules, trailing the staff as it moved in his hands.
Walnut Greatstaff (lvl 26); Requires 33 Dexterity, +3 Strength, +3 Reflexes, +1 Intuition, -1% stamina costs, +2 to all staff skills.
“Whoa. That’s… a major staff,” Vantegaard said as the description was unveiled.
“I remember some of those staves at Hilltop Samms. This one is even better with an incredibly low level for it,” Quandocor said. “A bit melee-oriented, but it is very, very good.”
Birkathane smiled.
“You can finally replace that old staff.”
Quandocor looked wistfully at the silvered staff.
“It feels like an old friend. I had just gotten enough Perception to actually use its stats properly after all that time, and now I am going to abandon it already.”
“Yes, but this is probably better. Although…”
Vantegaard shook his head.
“This one is probably too magical for Earth. Unlike your old one, that’s one you can’t bring back with you unless you want it to lose most of its capacities.”
“I don’t really need a magic staff on Earth.”
“Unless it’s to beat Sansemilla with,” Birkathane said.
Quandocor groaned.