Chapter 33: A Hidden Opportunity
By this point, Zach had seen enough mobs die to know that, when killed, they vanished into nothingness. For this reason, he didn’t stress much as he sliced a leaping pumpkin into two pieces, causing a spray of viscous, nasty-smelling juice to stain the front of hit tunic while a small quantity splashed across his cheek. After all, he figured it would only be a matter of seconds before the purple creature disappeared—and it in fact did. Yet for some reason, the stench of its innards as well as the slimy goop left in its wake did not seem to go with it, and after another few seconds, Zach realized that this particular “parting gift” would remain with him.
+5xp
Wrinkling his nose, he looked for something to wipe it off and, finding nothing, used the back of his hand. It was disgusting to the touch. Lienne backed away from him as though fearful of getting any on her own clothing. It appeared she was perfectly fine with bloodstains and sweat, but purple pumpkin blood? No, that was a bridge too far.
“That’s three of them,” Rian said, lowering his shield and axe while Lienne dealt with the fourth. “Zach, how’re you holding up?”
Zach held out a hand to indicate that he was fine. “I’m doing okay.”
In truth, he was slowly feeling better with each passing second. He was still a bit unsteady, but his breathing had come back under control and his heart rate had settled down somewhat. Even still, seeing how easily Rian and Lienne had handled the other three pumpkins, he’d been content to let them have at it while he took another moment to recover.
Individually—or even in small groups—these so-called “Audacious Pumpkins” weren’t much of a threat. Though their teeth certainly looked sharp enough to do real damage, their movements were very easy to predict. In fact, the creatures posed such little danger that Lienne wasn’t even wasting her stamina on them; rather than use Flamestrike, she seemed content to thwack them with the end of her staff. It was the first time Zach had ever seen her use the thing as a melee weapon. Though she only hit for around 10 damage, it was still a significant amount given their low HP. This, Zach observed as he watched Lienne put down the final pumpkin still moving.
[10/30]
Audacious Pumpkin C
Level 4
Clobbering it upside the head for another 10, the pumpkin fell to the ground and disappeared. Only, unlike the other three, there was something shiny left behind in its wake. Zach’s eyes widened like a child picking out candy. It was a drop! And it was for him, apparently. Also, strangely, it shined a very light greenish color as opposed to white. Was that just a trick of the moonlight? Or was this somehow different from other things he’d gotten as drops?
“What’s it mean that it’s shining green and not white?”
“It is?” Lienne asked. “Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“I think it has something to do with rarity. Heh. Figures,” she said with a laugh. “I do all the work, and you get the loot.”
“Hey, I’m the one who took down the scarecrow.”
It bothered Zach how his mention of the mob caused the cheer to drain from her face, replaced now with something more akin to skepticism or uncertainty. “Now that you bring that up. How did…how did you do that?”
Zach sighed. “I told you already. I used Wave Slash.”
“We get that,” Rian said. “But how did you put out that kind of damage?”
“Look, I just did.” He shrugged, not even bothering to hide his frustration. “I don’t know what else to say but that. Anyway, let me see what dropped.”
Even as Zach bent down to pick the small, cube-shaped object up off the floor, he tried his best to tune out their annoying, pestering questions, which they continued to throw his way. They couldn’t seem to stop asking him about how he’d done 516 damage to the Aggrieved Scarecrow mob. Did they not realize that he knew even less than they did? If anything, they should be explaining to him how he was able to defeat the creature in a single strike.
Why would I know anything they don’t? They’re the ones who got to go to some kind of fancy Initiation seminar.
Wrapping his hands around his drop, he lifted it up and squinted his eyes to inspect whatever this tiny little thing was. Overall it was the size of a piece of candy, perfectly cubed shaped, and it was wrapped in what looked like aluminum foil. Despite being small enough to fit in the dead center of his palm, the thing was eerily heavy. It felt like it weighed at least ten pounds, which was bizarre when contrasted with its miniscule physical size.
Zach guessed it was something edible, but just to be safe, he decided to inspect it first—and boy was he glad that he did. As he read the item’s description, he actually felt his stomach rumble nervously as he wondered what might’ve happened if he’d chucked the thing in his mouth.
(UNCOMMON) Heartening Campfire: picked up by Zachys Calador
Throw hard at the ground to create a medium-sized campfire that burns for three hours and twenty-five minutes. Also includes a picnic table, cutlery, dishes, and a choice of dinner for each member of your party (max 8).
Choices include 8oz. sirloin steak, Angelica’s Special Salmon, or roasted chicken. Sides include vegetables, fries, and choice of pudding or brownie. One 32oz bottle of water included for each party member.
(1 use)
The campfire, dishes, furniture, and all uneaten food de-spawns at the end of the duration. Can only be used on floor B3 in the Catacombs of Yorna.
Zach rubbed his chin as he read the description several times. It wasn’t that the words were, on their own, difficult to comprehend, but rather it was confusing in that this item seemingly contradicted their goal of making it through the exit in under the given time limit. Why would such an item drop here? Would that not render it completely useless? It seemed he wasn’t the only one who was wondering that very same thing, as Lienne tsked as she stood beside him and read along.
“Not the best drop in the world,” she said. “Oh well.”
“Yeah. Especially since I don’t think any of us plan to come back to this spooky place.”
“I don’t know,” Zach said. “Something about all this bothers me.”
Rian, who had only just sheathed his axe and shield, asked, “How so?”
Zach pointed at the words, which he had not yet dismissed. “This feels too intentional. It feels too deliberate.”
“What do you mean? And do we really have time to be standing around making idle chat? We’re going to miss our chance to get that sweet 450xp bonus.”
“It’s just…” Zach shook his head. “Do we really want that?”
Rian blinked, then jolted his head forward as if mishearing him. “Uh, of course, dude. What kind of question is that? And can we please walk while we talk?”
Zach nodded. He dismissed his inventory screen, Lienne reapplied her armor buff to the three of them, and then once more, they resumed their trek through this dark, cold, breezy, and hellish landscape. Unlike before, the words above the scarecrows were no longer hidden. It was as though merely having encountered them was enough to “uncover” the truth: that they were mobs and not harmless ornaments. Everywhere Zach looked, far out on both sides of the field beyond thousands of purple pumpkins, he saw:
[400/400]
Aggrieved Scarecrow
Level 10
Oddly, the pumpkins themselves did not have their names visible, yet Zach was fairly sure each and every one of them would spring to life if touched or approached too closely. It was strange, though: why were there so many scarecrows safely out of harm’s way? In fact, most of the ones in this place looked like they were not only unlikely to aggro, but would actually require a tremendous intentional effort to provoke. It was as though the scarecrows were being protected from the three of them as opposed to the other way around.
Holy shit, Zach thought. What if that’s on purpose?
He came to a halt behind Rian and Lienne as, several-dozen feet in the distance, another of the Aggrieved Scarecrows stood directly in the middle of the dirt path, and at this, Zach could visible see Lienne and Rian go white in the face.
“Son of a bitch,” Rian growled. “Another one of these things.”
Lienne shuddered. “Maybe if we cut our way through some of the pumpkins we can go around it. It only has an aggro range of about ten feet.”
Rian swore. “That’s still about fifty pumpkins. They’re everywhere. And Gods, it has 400HP.”
Strangely, Zach wasn’t afraid. Even though he doubted he could pull off another wave slash, something in the back of his mind was bothering him. Ever since getting that damn campfire item, he felt like there was something missing here: some bigger picture. This was almost exactly how he’d felt the day he’d discovered this dungeon. There was more to this than he realized.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Guys,” he said, causing them to both turn their heads his way, “you two said you know what Frog Snax are, right?”
Both of them nodded. “We had some back at the Rites of Initiation,” Rian said. “Why?”
“Did you guys ever read the back of the box?”
“Uh, well, yeah…but why do you ask? What’s that got to do with anything?”
Zach crossed his arms, both to shield himself from a sudden gust of cold air as well as because it comforted him while he thought on things. “What’s a ‘Great One’?” he asked. “I remember reading something about them.”
“Zach, this really isn’t the time to be—”
“Trust me,” he interjected. “It’s relevant, Rian. I promise you.”
Rian exhaled loudly, the sound coming off as frustrated and irritated. “I don’t really know much. No one really does. When we asked, the only thing we were told is that the Great Ones forged our world and everything in it: they are the Gods who created the spawn points and all that we see around us.”
Zach nodded as a grin formed on his lips. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”
Clearly perplexed, Rian asked, “Why?”
In response, Zach glanced around at the pumpkins and scarecrows around him. “Because it means all of this is deliberate. It’s not some random thing that came to be due to evolution or whatever. This is all here on purpose.”
“What’s that got to do with anything, dude?”
Zach raised his pointer finger and then gestured down at the dirt path. “It means this whole 'time-limit' thing could be a trap.”
“A trap?” Lienne asked, now seemingly just as confused and frustrated as her brother. “Zach, you’re rambling and not making any sense.”
Zach sighed. “I’m still piecing things together in my head. But something bothered me about that last floor. Were we really supposed to run from those Eeps? Once we got out of their aggro range, we could’ve provoked them again. Hell, we could’ve rammed into them with the DEHV—err, I mean, with the car. There were so many of them. We could’ve leveled up several times. And now look: we’re under-leveled because of it. Clearly we are.”
Zach began to step forward as he became more and more certain in the idea that began to form in his mind. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw both Rian and Lienne reach out to him as if attempting to stop him, but they remained firmly in place as Zach continued on. He stopped short just outside of the creature’s ten-foot aggro radius. Another step or two, and it would attack.
He pointed at it. “Have you guys considered that this scarecrow is literally doing what a scarecrow is supposed to do?”
“Zach, come back!” Lienne shouted. “You’re gonna get yourself killed.”
Turning his back to the mob, he again asked, “Guys, I’m serious. Just answer me. What is the purpose of a scarecrow? Just answer. I don’t care if you think I’m being crazy or not. Humor me.”
Rian, pulling at his hair with one hand and extending his hand in Zach’s direction with the other, nervously called out, “It’s…it’s to scare away birds.”
“And why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do birds need to be scared away?”
“Because they eat the crops or the seeds.”
Zach smiled. “Exactly. The scarecrows keep birds away by scaring them off from getting what they need.” Crooking his thumb over his shoulder, he pointed at the mob behind him. “And what if that’s what this thing is for? What if it only looks so scary because it’s a test or a challenge? To see if we’ll make a run for it and get that 450xp at the cost of something maybe way more rewarding.”
“That’s insane,” Rian said. “Zach, you really need to—”
“You guys might want to take a step back,” Zach warned them as he took two steps backwards and towards the scarecrow. He didn’t even bother to look over his shoulder as he heard the creature make a loud, shrill cry like that of a human in intense pain. “Seriously, turn around and run. Trust me!”
Lienne and Rian didn’t need to be told twice. While yelling at Zach and accusing him of losing his “Gods-damned mind,” they took off down the dirt path in the opposite direction—the way they’d just come. Zach, sprinting as fast as he could manage, caught up to them in just a few seconds, and now he did glance over his shoulder to see the Aggrieved Scarecrow also sprinting after him.
If I’m right, then any moment now, that thing should—
Zach laughed loudly in delight as within just thirty feet of distance, the scarecrow came to an abrupt, total halt, spun around, and began to drag its claws along the path as it walked back to its spawn point, leaving ten lines in the dirt from its massive clawed fingers.
“I knew it!” Zach cheered. “It de-aggroes so quickly. It’s not random. I knew it!”
“Knew what?” Rian demanded. “You’re really starting to piss me off.”
“Because you don’t get it,” Zach said. “Look around you. Why are most of these scarecrows in difficult-to-reach locations? Why are there only a few we can easily get to? Why hasn’t that first one we killed respawned? In fact, I’d bet money that it probably takes days or weeks to respawn. These scarecrows—they’re not predators. They’re our prey. Don’t you get it?”
Rian firmly and adamantly shook his head. “No, I really, really don’t.”
“You won’t believe me until I show you. That much is obvious. Okay, you two: stay right there. If I die, you have my permission to spit on my grave, because I’ll go down as the biggest moron to ever walk this planet—maybe literally, considering not many people have been here.”
“Zach,” Lienne said to him. Despite her soft tone, her words came across as harsh and on edge. “Whatever you’re about to do, please don’t.” A crease had formed on her forehead, and she was visibly worried.
“Please just trust me,” Zach reassured her. “I keep thinking about how this thing almost killed Rian, and I think I know how it works. Just watch.”
“Gods,” Rian moaned. “Part me wonders if you’ve lost it, and another part of me wonders if I have. What are you planning to do?”
In truth, Zach’s heart was pounding heavily in his chest as his legs threatened to buckle with fear. He knew what he was about to do was beyond dangerous. It was one of those rare things in life where, if he was correct, he would look like a genius, but if he was wrong, he would look like an absolute, unrivaled moron—someone so incomprehensibly stupid they almost deserved to die. Yet he knew he was right. He knew he had to trust his guts on this one—even at the risk of having them spilled out of him.
Once more, he approached to within eleven feet of the Aggrieved Scarecrow. Swallowing down his nerves, he drew a deep breath and held it a moment while he gathered his courage. This thing really did hit hard enough to kill any of them in a single two-hit swipe with its five- or six-feet claws. Even if he was right, this would still be such a dangerous thing to do. Exhaling slowly to calm himself, he gripped his blade tightly and took another step forward.
“Ssssrraaaaaash!” the creature yelled, activating immediately. “Ssssrraaaaaash!”
Here it comes, Zach thought, readying himself. Off a bit behind him, he could hear Rian and Lienne shouting his name, telling him to run, and begging him to reconsider. For the moment, he filtered them out. If he was right, this would be worth the risk he was taking.
The creature, as it had done to Rian, exploded forward at a run, stopping only when it reached him. Then, with a speed that was almost illogical coming from a creation of straw, it lifted its claws, held them horizontally, and spun around for an attack that would easily part his head from his body if it connected.
Zach, becoming far too filled with adrenaline to be afraid, bent his knees, dodging the creature's deadly sharp claws. Then he stood back upright as fast as he possibly could. Less than two seconds later, the creature struck at him again—and so like before, Zach bent his knees, avoiding the deadly strike. Two seconds after that, the creature went in for a third attack—and Zach ducked. Then this repeated for a fourth attack. And then a fifth attack. A then a sixth attack.
Holy shit! Zach screamed in his mind. I was right! I was actually fucking right!
In an act more “audacious” than any pumpkin, Zach, after dodging an eighth spinning strike, spun around on his heels so that he fully, recklessly, and dangerously turned his back to the mob. Then he waved to his two friends, who gawked at him with a mix of total horror and amazement in their eyes.
“Hey guys,” he said, bending his knees the moment he heard the sound of straw moving behind him. Speaking aloud, he chanted, “One, two—and duck!”
“One, two—and duck!”
“One, two—and duck!”
“One, two—and duck!”
Rian’s jaw dropped, and he pointed at Zach. “You’re a fucking genius,” he said. “It just does the same thing over and over again. It’s a…it’s like a training dummy.”
Zach laughed as the attack pattern became so firmly burned in his mind that he could literally perform these motions in his sleep. It was just like with the Toadfeet or the Plague Biter. He seemed to be really good at noticing these kinds of patterns. “Do you guys get it now?" he asked. "The 450xp is bullshit. This is our"—he ducked—“prize. This is what we need to be”—he again half-squatted down to avoid a predictably timed swipe of its claws—“hunting.”
After carefully evading two more attacks, Zach popped up to his feet and darted forward to rejoin his two companions. The creature chased him to within just a few feet of where they stood, but then, as if slamming against an invisible wall it came to an unnaturally heavy stop, turned around, and walked back to where it’d come from.
“I think…I think we should stay here awhile,” Zach said. Thankfully, this earned no protest from Rian and Lienne, who continued to stare at him in astonishment. “So, who here is cold and hungry?”
Using his foot, he drew a line in the dirt in case it would be useful later. Then, reaching into his pocket, he gestured for his two friends to stand back, and with all his strength, he threw it at the dirt. Then he smiled. Things didn’t always go his way, but when they did, it felt good.