Kelly's Hollow Jan 1 2023
Charlie and Sampson could be heard in the other chamber bickering about a neon like sign that just appeared. Sampson kept repeating that it could not be possible at this stage of the game. Charlie tapped his mining hammer against the wall of the Hollow, frustrated with Sampson's response.
“It is possible Sampson, there is nothing in the rules that says mystical guideposts only appear after leveling up. It's a game. Remember that. Anything can happen here." Charlie shoved the tiny hammer back into its sheath.
Sampson studied the glowing sign, it read. “Kelly's Hollow, a place worth remembering. We welcome you!” An arrow under the words flickered and pointed in the direction of nothing.
“Charlie, It leads to nowhere, it could be a trick,a trap, or worse.” Sampson said. He looked over his shoulder searching for West, wishing he had never started this journey.
In the corridor leading away from Kelly's Hollow, West Savage, trailed closely behind Lexi. She was light on her feet and moved quickly over the ornately carved stones littering the corridor floor. Her hand held a light wand and it illuminated the walls as she moved deeper through the corridor.
“Don't get too far ahead, Lexi, Sam and Charlie are still in Kelly's Hollow," West called out.
She waved him off with her free hand and rounded the corner. West had to make a choice. He could continue after Lexi or he could round up Sampson and Charlie before advancing deeper into the game. It was obvious to him that Lexi could handle herself, but the two others were quarreling. West could hear them debating the fundamentals of gameplay. That wasn't going to help anyone level up.
Inside Kelly's Hollow, West found the two men pointing at the glowing sign on the wall. Sampson had backed as far away from it as he possibly could without physically leaving the chamber. Charlie was within arms reach of the flashing arrow.
“Sampson, look it's not as ominous as you think,” Charlie reached out to touch the arrow.
“Charlie, No!” West shouted as he entered Kelly's Hollow.
"Hey dude, I'm gonna level up, just chillax," Charlie responded thinking it was Sampson talking to him.
Charlie felt a powerful grip on his shoulder. "No Charlie, we have to go after Lexi."
Charlie eyed Sampsom and West and turned back towards the wall. " I'm going in," He threw himself onto the solid rock surface. It was cold and wet. He thought he saw a meadow covered with the most beautiful wildflowers. In the center of the meadow he swore he saw a woman, she beckoned him to enter. It was West who pulled him away from the wall and away from Kelly's Hollow.
“I think I saw Kelly,” Charlie said, dazed by the experience. "and she was amazing.”
"Kelly was a man, he died on the other side of that wall," West said, pushing Charlie into the corridor, Sampson reluctantly followed.
"Both of you stay close, there is no place for bickering here. If you want to succeed you have to cooperate, your lives will depend on that."
When they found Lexi she was crouched near the first outcropping of the King's obsidian Crystals.
"Look guys," She said as they came closer. "I broke one off, and it respawned in a matter of minutes."
Lexi tossed an inky blue black crystal in Sampsons direction. He stumbled over himself to catch the crystal. It slipped through his fingertips falling to the floor and shattered into hundreds of pieces. Each crystal shard released an electric charge that arched white blue as they skittered under his feet.
"Whoa, would you look at that," Charlie said watching the shards slide in different directions.
"Ok everyone gather as many crystals as you can, fill your pouches." West directed the group.
Sampson and Charlie joined Lexi under the crystal outcropping. They worked quickly chipping crystals and placing the pieces into their waist pouches.
A chime sounded and a feminine prompt announced.
" You have chosen to harvest the King's obsidian crystals, well done. you are lucky to be alive, given the power of the obsidian discharge. For your bravery, fool hardy as it maybe, you will each be allowed to proceed to the next level. There you will be tasked with retrieveing the Eye of Frosken Vik. Do you wish to proceed to the next level?"
Lexi jumped up from her task and responded to the prompt "Yes, I do. I want to level up and accept the next challenge."
A brilliant flash of light filled the corridor and temporarily blinded West, Sampson and Charlie. When it faded Lexi was gone, all that remained was her empty crystal pouch. Sampson looked at West expecting answers. There were none, he simply shook his head in disbelief.
The prompt returned.
"Do any of the remaining adventures wish to proceed to the next level?"
West raised a finger to his lips signaling to the others not to answer.
"Where have you sent Lexi?" West replied.
The prompt answered
"Do you and the two others accept this challenge?"
West asked the prompt again where Lexi had been sent, he received the same answer.
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
"We do not accept your challenge," West said. He turned to Charlie and Sampson."It's too dangerous, a challenge at this level is unprecedented."
Sampson was grateful for West's response thinking he would soon be relieved of playing this game. Instead a bright light filled the corridor once more.
When it faded all three men were gone, the only thing that remained in the corridor was Lexi's empty crystal pouch.
West and Sampson lay sprawled across the flat granite surface of the Icen Fjord. Sampson rubbed his forehead and felt an egg sized lump forming just above his left temple. He wasn't supposed to feel any pain. West told him it was only a game, and yet the bump throbbed making him feel slightly nauseous.
" It’s hella cold here," Charlie was standing above West and Sampson with a stupid grin on his face. "I was wondering how much longer you two planned to sleep."
“Guys I'm injured, can we just quit now I think I have had enough.” Sampson winced, touching his lump again.
Charlie glared at Sampson, visibly annoyed with Sampsons pathetic behavior. “Let me take a look at that," He said. Charlie eyed the lump. It didn't look so bad to him, so he poked it with his index finger.
"Ouch!" Sampson cried out. "don't do that!"
"You need to man up, this is a superficial wound, nothing to write home about. Consider it a warm up for things to come," Charlie said and then laughed at Sampson rubbing his bump.
"Look you two, we need to find shelter. If we are out here much longer out here and we will freeze to death. Charlie, have you seen any sign of Lexi?" West questioned.
"Nope, just us three and this barren snowscape," Charlie said surveying the horizon.
All three were not prepared for the frozen wasteland, each one wore a loose cotton shirt and leather breeches. Sampson complained that his leggings were beginning to feel like stiff cardboard as he hugged himself tight against the frigid winds.
"West?" Charlie pointed to a small outcropping on the granite shelf. "Doesn't that look like some place we could shelter until this storm passes?"
"It looks like it may work," West strode ahead of the two others.
He knew the walk would be longer than it appeared. His thoughts immediately went to Sampson, who seemed to be weaker than he anticipated. When West interviewed the adventurers last week they all seemed to meet the games requirements. Finding players with particular physical and mental attributes were an important part of the protocol. Then and only then would the Rule Maker assign the players to the game. Participants needed to be healthy, display strength of character and be physically able to meet the challenges presented in the game. At the time of his interview Sampson met all those requirements, now he was crumbling. Penalties would be extreme for Sampson if he could not find the courage to continue.
Walking over the frozen ground Charlie enthusiastically hummed "The Marine Corp Hymn". West listened intently to all the sounds of his surroundings, the cold wind in his ears, their footsteps crunching against the frozen earth, Charlie humming, and a strange chirping every now and again in the distance.
"Charlie," West finally said. "Can you take a break from that tune for a few minutes."
"Providing some motivation for us," Charlie responded.
"Listen. Do you hear that?" West pointed ahead of them and to the left.
All three men stopped walking, Charlie drew his short sword.
“What is that?” Sampson said, stepping between Charlie and West.
"I'm not really sure, but it sounds like forest amphibians, " West replied.
"Ko-Kee, Ko- Kee" The chirping seemed to be getting closer to the three men. "Ko-Kee, Ko- Kee" and then it sounded like it was far away from them. The ko-kee chirps changed to a trill and then back to chirps.
"They are all around us," Sampson said.
West drew his short sword and motioned for Sampson to do the same. Sampson swallowed deeply, trying to suppress his fear, he breathed in the frozen air and reached for the hilt of his weapon.
Attracted to the irresistible scent of human heat, they hid among the large granite boulders waiting for the opportune moment to strike. The leader watched the adventurers and trilled to the others to hold their positions, to resist their eagerness.
He felt saliva collect under his enormous blue tongue, and spill out over his wire thin lips. It dripped onto the rocks and pooled around his feet. He could not remember when he or his colony last tasted warm flesh. Humans were unusually rare here, a delicacy to behold.
“What is that smell?” Sampson twisted his nose in disgust. A powerful stench enveloped the adventurers, something akin to rotting swamp mud, cow feces and wet mold. Sampson felt his stomach lurch forward but he managed to maintain his composure. He knew something was going to happen and now he had to play the game whether he wanted to or not.
“Oh my god, what in the hell is that?” Sampson heard Charlie say.
Charlie's face twisted in revolt and as he inhaled the foul stench he said.“ If I didn't know better I would say someone's sewer broke.”
“Not a sewer!” West shouted. “ Charlie, Look out!” West bolted toward Charlie. His short sword pierced the cold air as he lunged toward the beast wrapping it's tongue around Charlie's leg.
Charlie fell to his knees, he struggled to release his leg from the thick blue tongue. He reached for his short sword where it had fallen a few feet away from him. The huge creature lowered a slime covered foot onto his wrist and stopped him from retrieving his weapon. Charlie was pinned between tongue and foot. The saliva covering the creature's tongue numbed his leg. Charlie could not feel anything below his hip. In his peripheral vision he saw West charging towards his assailant. Sampson followed close behind.
“ Let go of him you lousy son of a bitch, let go of him, Frosken Vik! Or I'll run you and your colony through!”
The Ice Toad glared at West defiantly, his glassy blue eyes blinked as he opened his enormous mouth exposing tiny razor sharp teeth. No Human was going to keep him from his feast. Frosken Vik retracted his tongue and with it Charlie. He felt the toads mouth close around his waist. Charlie was surprised at how carefully the toad closed its mouth around him, how his flesh was not yet pierced by those needle like teeth.
“Charlie don't move,“ He heard Sampson shouting to him “We're gonna take this beast out.”
West and Sampson had cornered the huge toad against a boulder. Sampson waved his sword back and forth, tentatively poking the toad's leg. West was more direct.
“Frosken Vik, put him down now or it will be the end of you.” West said, holding his short sword against the soft flesh of the toad's neck. Frosken Vik trilled to his colony, an order to emerge, and be eager.
The ground shook with the weight of three other toads leaping from their hiding spots. A smaller toad landed between West and Sampson. They had no choice but to attack the new arrival. Sampson, on instinct thrust his sword deep into the new toad's neck, his arm disappearing into the fleshy creature. The toad responded, lashing Sampson with its tongue covering him with a sticky yellow slime.
West took advantage of the new toads' preoccupation with Sampson, and jumped onto its back. The toad reacted by leaping out of danger. West clung to it until it settled to the ground. Quickly he crawled up its leathery skin until he reached its head. A long transparent ridge covered with uneven bumps rose up between the toads' eyes. West knew he had to strike the toad in the center of this ridge, It would be an instant kill. The toad already weakened from Sampson's attack sat still, breathing rapidly, deeply, waiting for the rest of its colony to finish hunting. It watched its brothers hunt, and it did not feel West penetrate its cranium. With a heavy thud the smaller toad collapsed to the ground. West quickly retrieved his sword and ran to join Sampson.
Sampson had luck on his side this time, the toad he was trying to bring down was much smaller than all the others. Its translucent skin reflected the late afternoon light as it strained to free itself from Sampsons grip. West recognized this toad as one of Frosken Viks younglings, a rookie hunting scout. Its inexperience was the reason it had become trapped by Sampson. The youngling trilled for the other scouts to return to free it from the human.
Frosken Vik heard the calls of the youngling, his jaw gripped Charlie tighter for a moment and then he spat him out onto a frozen boulder. Charlie tried to stand but could not, his legs still numb from the toads saliva. Charlie watched his assailant listen to the younglings' panicked trills. Charlie estimated the toad to be larger than an elephant. Its translucent opal skin was oddly beautiful even when it was covered with icy warts .
“I come for human later,” Charlie thought he heard the giant toad speak.
Frosken Vik squatted down on his thick muscular legs and with one great push he propelled himself forward into the air. Charlie watched, awestruck by the sheer power of the beast.
Sampson held his short sword above the younglings head. "Should I kill it?" He questioned West.
“You kill it or it kills you," West responded.
Sampson took a deep breath, he saw fear in the young creature's eyes. A part of him felt remorse for what he was about to do. West was right, it had to be done or they would wind up like Charlie. It took all the strength and willpower Sampson had in him. He plunged the blade into the young toads underbelly. He sliced the flesh across its body, hot internal organs spilled out onto Sampson. They smelled of rot and decay. The toad tried to defend itself, lashing out at Sampson with its tongue and blindly swinging its front legs. Sampson no longer contemplating the value of the toad's life brought his sword down on the offending tongue. He felt a frenzy building inside him as he lifted his sword again hacking at the toad until it lay lifeless in front of him. Exhausted Sampson turned around to face West, while he had been defeating the young scout Frosken Vik attacked West from behind.
West was pinned under the giant toads feet, he beat against the toads nose trying to free himself. His short sword was lodged in the shoulder of Frosken Vik, he could not pull it free. The only thing left to defend himself was the small mining hammer. He reached into his pouch and pulled the hammer free. West knew that Ice toads much like sharks have extremely sensitive olfactory systems, all he needed to do was to hit the toad in the right place. The blow would be so painful the toad would have to release him.
“Big guy, over here” Sampson yelled at the enormous toad. “Hey stupid I just killed one of your buddies!”
Sampson waved his arms up and down trying to catch the attention of Frosken Vik.
The toad shuffled and rotated to face Sampson, its crystalline warts sparkling as it did so.
“Yea that's right you big ugly frog, take me on...if you think you're frog enough to do it!” Sampson chuckled at himself. “Frog enough to do it” where did that come from?
Still high from his first kill he beckoned the massive Frosken Vik with his short sword.