They had come so far in the tutorial. Each of them had taken their own path on a journey of self-discovery and had applied those concepts to reinforce not only who they were before, but who they were to become.
The dungeon thus far had not exactly been a walk in the park. Each of them was challenged in various ways, sometimes right up to the point they might break. They walked a fine line between success and failure, with any momentary lapse in performance potentially spelling the end of the line.
With all of that, however, they had broken through those barricades. The challenges had bent them but not broken them, and through it all, they had become stronger and more confident in themselves.
Until now.
“… and I couldn’t breathe.” Amy whispered through barely contained tears, “That giant… snake… or whatever it was, just kept squeezing. I felt my bones breaking and I couldn’t escape. I tried screaming, but nothing would come out. The worst part was that you all were there, and didn’t even help.”
The trauma each of them bore was evident. Amy was telling her story simply to hear the words… to remind herself that she was okay and that the nightmare was over.
The rest of them sat in silence. Listening to Amy recount the horrors of her experience while trying to compartmentalize and process their own.
Calvin searched his memories for some meaning behind his nightmare. He had faced off against a building-sized mechanical monstrosity, desperately trying to protect his team. Every strike was entirely ineffective against the metal construct. He had urged them to run and escape but they did nothing. So he stood his ground, desperately fighting to what he knew would be his last breath.
Listening to each of them retell their experience, Calvin understood the true purpose of this test. Each of them had been faced with their greatest fears. Amy was alone with nobody to help her. Calvin was unable to protect the ones he felt responsible for. Marshall had watched each of his friends succumb to unimaginable wounds without access to any of his skills. Seth wasn’t quite ready to discuss his nightmare and Freya only expressed sadness through her link.
Ian was the only one to break the illusion. None of the others had even concluded that their experience was somehow wrong. They were gripped by the fear of the moment and focused every last bit of their mental strength to try and eek out a win, even when it was utterly hopeless. Each of them knew they owed Ian their lives.
That was the other thing about this test. Alone, their journey would have ended there. They would have perished within those nightmares and their lives would have been snuffed out, just another casualty of the tutorial. Forgotten by the system and with nobody else to remember them, they would have simply been erased from history. They weren’t alone though. They had come to rely on each other in more ways than one, and that was never more apparent than it was today in this challenge. Ian saved their bacon.
Marshall reached over and tousled Ian’s shaggy red hair, “We owe you big time. Between you and me though, I never doubted you for a moment.” he gave Ian a wink, and with great emphasis he continued, “Alright, nothing fixes a dreary day like some good old-fashioned treasure. Let’s get this show on the road.”
They rolled their eyes at him, but he had the right idea. They needed to get out of this funk and get back to the good stuff. The tutorial wasn’t going to get any easier. They certainly had the option to exit the dungeon at this crystal, knowing that any further challenges were likely to be immense, but they’d come all this way. They might as well see it through. Plus, who’s to say the challenges wouldn’t just keep on coming outside the dungeon too?
Calvin signaled for Ian to do the honors this time.
YOU HAVE FACED YOUR GREATEST FEARS INDIVIDUALLY, ONLY ACHIEVING SUCCESS THROUGH RELIANCE ON YOUR COMPANIONS. THIS IS THE THIRD TRUE TEST OF THE TUTORIAL. YOU WILL NOT SUCCEED WITHOUT HAVING THE UTMOST FAITH IN YOUR CLOSEST ALLIES.
REWARDS GRANTED INDIVIDUALLY BASED ON PERFORMANCE. RECEIVE REWARD?
Ian approved the prompt for the reward as did the others.
Tutorial Skill Evolution Token (Gold): This token grants the holder a single opportunity to evolve any skill earned within the tutorial. At Gold rank, this token allows the holder to select two modifications from the evolution list to apply to a single skill. This token must be used within an established base.
“That’s neat.” Ian said as he flashed the reward prompt up for the team.
The others had each received a lesser version of the same reward. It made sense, Ian was the critical component in them escaping this room alive.
Tutorial Skill Evolution Token (Silver): This token grants the holder a single opportunity to evolve any skill earned within the tutorial. At Silver rank, this token allows the holder to select one modification from the evolution list to apply to a single skill. This token must be used within an established base.
The group continued to recover their strength while Seth went about the process of tearing apart the dungeon. He carefully recovered each of the rune-inscribed tiles from the floor and the remainder of the shattered gemstone. His Artificer’s Eye identified the broken shards as Spatial Essence Fragments. He’d attempted to coax more information out of the system, however, none was forthcoming.
Only a few minutes later, they began what they hoped would be the last descent in this dungeon before completing the challenge.
Their uneventful journey saw them standing at the base of the large cavern. Looking up they could see the winding path back up to the entrance they arrived from. Three large crystals were shining brightly on the ceiling. The air had a hum about it now. The damp stillness had been replaced with an almost electric sensation.
The group briefly explored the large circular base of the cavern. The floor was a smooth polished stone in contrast with the roughly carved, moss-covered walls. Few of the bugs and other gross critters ventured down this far and none touched the stone floor. Interesting, Calvin thought. They must know something we don’t.
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Calvin directed his attention toward the only feature of this room; a large boulder no larger than him sat precisely in the center. The tile work on the floor formed a subtle pattern that indicated those tiles were placed intentionally with the boulder being the focal point.
Seth carefully approached the boulder, being cautious not to activate any hidden traps. Wouldn’t that just be perfect? What if they made it all the way through each challenge of the dungeon just to fall into a pit of snakes right at the very end?
As he got closer, it was easy to see what made this rock so special. The entire surface was covered in a small runic script, carefully etched into the stone.
“Ian, come check this out. Do your magic eyes pick up anything?”
Ian activated his nanovision and scanned the rock, his gaze slowly moved above the rock and up to the crystal formation on the ceiling.
“There’s a thin nanite thread connecting this to those crystals up there.”
Ian placed his hand on the stone and channeled a small amount of energy into it. The runes where he had placed his hand lit up in an aqua blue. He removed his hand and the runes dimmed before going dark. Ian tried to channel more energy into his hands and the effect spread further on the stone before darkening yet again. Each time, it appeared the energy was flowing out of the runes and up the thread to the center of the crystals above.
“I think we all need to channel our energy into the stone.”
Apprehensively, they all surrounded the boulder and placed their hands on it.
“You sure about this Ian?” Calvin asked.
“How do you feel about 80/20?”
“Uh, not great to be honest.”
Ian looked the rock over once more.
“Alright, let’s call it 90%.”
Reluctantly, Calvin placed his hands on the rune and Ian called for them to begin the process.
The energy flowed out from their hands, illuminating the runic script across the boulder. They noted that the energy from each of them lit the runes in a different color. It was an interesting observation that Ian would file away for later. For now, they continued willing their energy to flow into the rock as it grew more radiant by the passing second.
PHWOOM
The team scrambled back startled, as the boulder seemed to ‘fire’ the channeled energy into the crystal formation. Nothing happened for the briefest of moments before a beam of energy promptly returned from the crystals and struck the boulder, promptly reducing it to dust.
Left behind, where the boulder once stood was a shimmering blue portal.
“Interesting.” Ian mused, “This whole setup must have been a lock of sorts. That seemed like an incredibly elaborate handshake.”
Just over a week ago, the entire display they’d just witnessed would have completely broken their minds. Heck, entire religions back home were based on much less than that.
Now, it was becoming standard fare for the group. This was just your average, run-of-the-mill, lost civilization's, nanite-encrypted, portal locking mechanism. And of course, magic was the key.
It took no convincing whatsoever for the group to step into the portal into whatever waited for them beyond.
They emerged from the shimmering curtain of the portal into a large, partially submerged cavern. This was not a natural underground formation. This must be the remnants of the lost civilization the system hinted at in their quest. The once symmetrical walls of the chamber were adorned in a complex, runic circuitry that pulsed with hints of life. Several sections of the circuitry had clearly suffered from the ravages of time, arcing tendrils of plasma into the charred, shattered floor tile below. A symphony of decay played in the cavern. The ozone tang danced with the metallic rasp of rust, while the electric discord erupted through crumbling conduits, voicing this lost civilization’s final breath. Towering pylons lined the cavern, crowned with prismatic crystals, many of them still slowly pulsing with an ethereal light.
Pools of azure water filled many sections of the damaged floor, their shimmering surface reflected the diffuse crystalline light from the pylons. On the far side of the room, a small obsidian orb hovered just above the ruined floor. It emitted a powerful rhythmic pulse, each one hammered against the group with an unseen force.
Phwoom
“I’m going to take a stab and say that’s our obsidian heart.” Marshall said matter of factly.
“Yeah, I’ll say so.” said Seth. He studied the runes on the walls, following their patterns around the chamber, “These runes… they’ve been the same throughout the dungeon. That statue’s shield, the tiles in the nightmare chamber, and the stone we just busted through all have the same script. I get the feeling they were all created by whoever made this place.”
“Any Ideas?” Calvin asked the group. He pulled open the quest notification for a quick review.
QUEST: ECHOES OF THE OBSIDIAN HEART
Level: 5+ (Recommended party size: 4-5)
Location: Sunken Caverns (Deepest Depths)
Goal: Unearth the source of the unsettling power emanating from the caverns' core, known only as the Obsidian Heart. Retrieve the artifact responsible for this potent energy and neutralize its potential threat.
Rewards:
Rare crafting materials: Uncover rare crafting materials, suitable for unlocking new equipment or utility item recipes.
The Orb of Obsidian Vision: A mystical artifact forged from the Obsidian Heart's raw essence, granting the ability to glimpse hidden pathways, uncover invisible threats, and pierce through magical illusions.
Fragment of the Lost Codex: A cryptic page from an ancient text rumored to hold the key to unlocking the secrets of this neon world, revealing forgotten lore and unlocking hidden potential within yourselves.
Unlocking hidden classes: Completing this perilous quest may reveal whispers of specialized paths beyond the standard classes, hinting at unique abilities and powerful transformations for those who prove their worth.
“You don’t think we just… go grab it do you?” Amy asked.
“Not a chance.” Marshall chuckled, “If I was taking bets, those rocks on the towers shoot lasers, those scribbles on the wall might zap-fry us, that water is probably poison, hell, this place looks haunted, so there’s probably a ghost or two.”
Phwoom
“Uh, we’ve got a problem,” Ian warned, “Each one of those pulses seems to destabilize the nanite fabric for a few seconds. I don’t think we’ll be able to activate any skills when it happens. There were only minor fluctuations in the shadows of those pylons, so the effect must be line of sight to that orb.”
Calvin took a few moments to look around. The terrain was challenging. The floor was uneven and broken throughout the room. They wouldn’t be able to navigate along the walls with that plasma arcing. The pools of water were at an unknown depth, so crossing them may not be possible.
He started mentally plotting a course to the orb. He noticed an oddity with a few of the pylons. In four separate places, the base of the tower was littered with the shattered remains of the prismatic crystals that had adorned the top. His eyes tracked up the towers and fell upon crystals just like all of the others. Hmm, did someone replace the broken crystals? He continued examining each one when he noticed one of them shift ever so slightly.
“Eyes up everyone! I’ve got movement on those towers!.”
They immediately fell into combat positions.
Obviously sensing the jig was up, four of the crystals rose up into the air from their perch. Crystalline wings spread open to reveal small, misshapen, vaguely humanoid creatures shrouded in a black void. Their limbs were much too long for their proportions, ending in large gleaming talons. The odd, crystal, demon pixies were held aloft by some unseen force as their wings remained still, not beating against the air. Two glowing orbs sat where their eyes should be, however, these orbs contained the vastness of entire galaxies.
With a synchronized beat of their wings, a shock wave of condensed air rippled out toward the group buffeting them to the ground.
ENCOUNTER - OBSIDIAN SHRIEKERS (X4)