What is it? Belinda asked.
“Just… One… Moment.” Maggie buried her arm into the hole, wincing as she felt the disgusting substance that permeated its surface clings to her skin and sleeve. She started to feel around for what she was looking for, biting at her tongue as she concentrated. Until she found something.
“Aha!” She retracted her arm to reveal the object of her search. “Here it is!”. It was a nondescript, dark brown, slightly rectangular, flat small box. It had some sort of seal on top of a lid. It looked fragile as if it could be easily removed by pulling on one of its sides.
Curious… I couldn’t feel anything at all in that location.
“Should I open it?”
It doesn't feel dangerous to me… Although I have never sensed danger from an object before, so I can't vouch for its safety either way. But considering its shape, I have a good guess of what its content might be.
“—Aaand, done!” In one quick pull, Maggie removed the whole seal, making a satisfying crispy peeling noise as she tore the material out of the lid, revealing its opening.
Cautiously, she flipped its lid open —which moved surprisingly smoothly— to reveal its content.
Cards.
***
“It’s just…”
Cards.
That’s what I thought.
Cards seem to conveniently appear anywhere here, the same way we found what we needed back in our start room.
What you have there seems to be more of a protected package, conveniently placed. Differently from our first find, it wasn't disguised, made to look like mere coincidence… Why the change?
“I dunno. Maybe the gerbils could have carried the box to their little nest?”
Hm. That is as good an excuse as any... Regardless, let’s see what we have, it may give us some clues to our next challenges.
“Right.” Maggie pulled the cards from the small box; four in total. They look similar in shape and color to the last ones; all of them having the same dark copper coloration, aside from the image in its center.
Flint and Steel Pouch
Rank D — Item Card
“A small pouch containing a steel band and a piece of flint. You can now light a fire! Cook your prey, quench your cold; steer the night. It’s up to you!”
“I haven’t stopped to think of it earlier but… Do you think this place ever gets dark?”
One would assume it doesn’t, considering its… Natural light source. But we cannot take anything for granted here; our meager understanding of reality has been challenged constantly for the past hour, and I imagine that won't stop now. Besides, you will still need warmth and food.
“That is true… Speaking of food, do you think I can eat these things?” She asked, tapping one of the Burrowing Gerbils with her boot. “Maybe that's where the cards are pointing us towards?”
As far as I know, they are just rodent monsters. And I don't recall it having any poison or transmitting any significant disease. So I suppose, yes.
“Ow. I guess I know where to find food if I can't find anything beyond these biscuits.”
We still have to figure out how good you are in your survival techniques. For now, we should bring a few of those when we leave, in case we need to find out. We don't have enough time to waste here.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Gotcha.” Claiming the card, Maggie shifted to the next one in the list; a card depicting a stone wall crumbling around an open hand on its surface.
Burrowing
Rank C — Spell Card
“No rock or stone shall stay in your way. Imbue your hands with the power to slowly burrow through the ground, stone, or any weaker material.”
“Oh, neat! That seems like a cool spell!”
How thematic.
“How slow do you think it is?”
Considering it is a Rank C Spell —the lowest Rank for a Spell card— and you received it after facing the Burrowing Gerbils, I would assume it may take a few minutes to go through a solid stone wall. Maybe you will fare better against loose ground.
“Considering rock is everything I've seen so far, it sure will come in handy.” She went ahead and claimed the card as well.
Charm of Rodent Detection
Rank C — Item Card
“Congratulations! You just survived a nasty rodent attack. As a reward, take this charm and make sure you know their location beforehand!
This charm will alert you when a rodent lays its eyes on you for the first time.”
“Uhh…” Maggie was speechless. Did the card gods just… Made fun of her?
That seemed highly customized.
“They didn't even disguise it with a generic description this time! What's up with that?” Maggie felt Belinda mentally shrugging at that. “Okay, last one.”
Blood Clotting Pills
Rank C — Item Card
“A staple in the most adventurous individuals’ pack, the Blood Clotting Pills increases one's natural regeneration speed by tenfold, regenerating lost blood and healing injuries that would take days in hours.
This small flask contains 3 pills. Consuming more than one pill in a period of 24 hours will not increase your regeneration process.”
“Finally something I really need!” Maggie almost jumped out of happiness. Well, scratch that; she actually jumped out of happiness, did a little punch in the air and everything, and then regretted doing that, considering her entire body hurt. She wasn't sure of how long it would take to heal her, and while she still hadn't lost enough blood to be a problem, losing blood at all didn't seem like a healthy thing to be doing, so any help she could find was appreciated.
It will fasten your body's natural regeneration process. But nothing beyond that. Keep in mind that the most grave of injuries would actually take you weeks to months to heal, so even with this, it would still take you days to make a big difference. And considering the wording on the card, the best we can surmise is that the effect will only last for 24 hours.
“Okay, don't expect this to be a big help. Got it.” Maggie claimed the card and quickly deployed it, receiving a small, thumb-sized flask containing three green pills. They looked a lot like round green beans. Maggie tentatively licked one of them, —because that is the sensitive thing to do when you find anything new that is loosely edible— and winced due to its bitterness. Well, bitterness didn't even start to describe it, the thing just tasted awfully, and had a strong bitterness you would associate with herbal medicine.
Drinking a bit of water, Maggie washed the pill down her throat, also cleaning her tongue, and almost immediately felt like fresh cold water was pouring throughout her entire body; her aches and pain subsiding ever so slightly, but making a big difference in her current state.
It will take a while until you fully recover. You should eat something, it will help with your regeneration. You might want to get your food clean before eating, though. But this does prove that whatever is guiding us here doesn't want you to just die. There is a certain challenge and reward correlation here.
“Right.” Getting back to where she left her haversack, sighing, Maggie went through the mess of broken glass and biscuits, cleaning it the best she could. Some pieces were too crumbled and mixed with the smaller glass shards to save, but thankfully, most were intact enough that she could clean it a bit and have it good to go. For the first time, she was grateful for its hardtack consistency.
After separating the biscuits, Maggie deposed of the glass, saving a few sturdier bigger pieces in case it would be useful in the future; you never know.
***
She didn't spend too much time eating, there is only so much you can do in the time it takes to munch on a few biscuits. But she did take the opportunity to get some breath, rest for a few minutes, and talk.
“So… What are your thoughts on the stuff we found?” She asked while pouring a bit of water on top of a biscuit; she was pretty sure these things weren't made to be eaten dry, so she was trying to find out if soggy biscuits tasted better, or well, tasted of anything at all.
It only took one bite to find out she was terribly wrong.
…That seemed more like a consolation prize for surviving the Burrowing Gerbils than a preparation for a specific challenge in the future. But it will help keep you alive.
“Yeah… What’s with this charm anyway?” She asked, looking at the simple collar with a small mouse-like skull pendant “It’s like they are half helping us and half playing some kind of joke for entertainment. Are we in some kind of weird survival show for god TV?”
I would say that the odds of this being some kind of forged reality for the entertainment of others are very slim. But the concept of being trapped in a deadly situation for the amusement of so called superior entities is surprisingly common. In any case, collectively, the Burrowing Gerbils provide nearly one hour of Lifetime. Very close to your first enemy. And while we had access to the first few cards before facing it, I can see a pattern here. Face new challenges; receive new rewards.
Regardless, we have only 50 minutes left. We should hurry.
“Right.” Cleaning her clothes and face, Maggie started getting up, “I think I can climb this stone wall, anyway. It looks porous enough. Maybe we will find a new path once I have a full view of our surroundings. Also, I am pretty sure I can go over the same path I went down. It just seems… Very, very dangerous.” Very dangerous was an understatement. While most of the obstacles in the path she fell were separated by a couple of meters, there were intersections on one side or the other that were much closer, so climbing upwards by jumping between them seemed doable. But it was a very haphazard path, especially considering that Maggie's upper body strength wasn't one of the best, and she would probably need to drag herself upwards a lot. She was also not looking forward to having to walk on top of those weird wires, she wasn't sure if being shocked for minutes straight was healthy, even if the charge didn't seem strong enough to cause anything beyond a bit of pain.
“I'm not gonna lie; I'm not looking forward to it.” She said, wincing at the prospect of climbing the wall. Partly because she was scared, but mostly because she was still tired and hurt from all the action of her day so far. She desperately needs to take a long nap.
Let's go. Better to move now than to waste time hesitating. Maggie let out a long sigh at that; she wished she could have a longer moment of respite, but she was beginning to accept that this was probably her life now; living in the moment, always going forward. In the end, she started moving. A new momentum gained, until she can spare to take a breath again.
“Alright, let's go.”