Chapter 33: Book 1: Chapter 13 (Part 2 of 2)

Fortunately for us, and not so much for Carl and company, the Skreechers that had broken towards us decided to pass up the opportunity of coming within range of my blades and linked back up with the other half of the swarm and hit their group instead.

Peter remained on the floor and had puked all over himself it appeared. Tommy had at least picked his cudgel back up but was wobbly on his feet and wouldn’t be any help.

Jackson and Lucas were once again armed and ready to assist. Lucas nocked and released two arrows into the approaching swarm. The first arrow sailed through and hit nothing, but the second buried itself in the chest of a Skreecher and dropped it.

Chalk one up for their team. Sixteen left.

When the swarm was only a couple of feet away, Jackson raised his off-hand and a stream of green flames belched from his open palm. The expanding wave of green fire carried maybe twenty feet and encapsulated the first half of the swarm before it petered out.

The Skreechers were too close for the magical attack to arrest their momentum and so the group was bombarded by flaming dead or dying mobs. While the back half of the Skreecher swarm, untouched by the flames, pulled up and flew over the top of their heads.

Which was just as well as their group had to pat out the flames that had spread to their clothing. Lucas dropped down to do the same for his insensate brother on the floor.

“Jackson, you fucking idiot,” Carl chewed him out, true to form.

“What the fuck was I supposed to do Carl,” Jackson uncharacteristically snapped back. “Let them swarm us, a third of our team are down.”

“Nah, I’m good,” Tommy mumbled, and promptly stumbled, and fell on his arse.

Carl scowled at Jackson but seemed to lack an appropriate verbal riposte to the thin lad’s logic.

The good news for them was that Jackson and Lucas had thinned the Skreechers numbers by a further nine and there were only seven remaining.

The Skreechers glided up above the group and periodically swept in for ineffective attacks which often cost them one of their dwindling numbers. Tommy recovered his balance after half a minute and even Peter was up and awake when Carl sliced the wing off and then stamped on the final Skreecher.

The beasts had ignored Shana and I after that first sweep, so we had stood apart for the rest of the encounter and watched them.

Carl marched over to me when it was done, his face a thundercloud.

“What the fuck was that? Why didn’t you fight? I thought you were supposed to be some hot-shot combo of warriors. I knew it was bull, you’re just fucking posers looking to ride our coattails,” the angry Crusader sneered.

“One,” I said calmly, counting off on my fingers. “You told us to stay out of your way. We were just doing as asked. Two, you didn’t ask for help. Do that next time you’re in over your head. Three, we killed a trio of these mobs before your entire team registered their first. Four, this was your chamber, the next one is ours, or have you forgotten?”

Carl snorted and clenched his teeth. But he didn’t say anything.

I got the definite impression he wasn’t the brightest of sparks. That or he was used to his targets, like Tommy, capitulating without a word returned and he had nothing in his arsenal beyond banal threats and insults. He stormed off back to his team.

Tommy appeared to be casting some minor healing spell and they wiped away the blood which had accumulated around their ears. When it looked like he was done, I sauntered over with Shana in tow.

“Are you ready?” I asked lightly.

There was a sea of nodding heads and one rude grunt from Carl, and I led the way to the exit of the limestone cavern, which was an arched opening about two and a half metres high. I knew it was the way onward as the air inside of the arch had the same shimmering effect that was between the double doors at the other end of the chamber. Shana and I stepped through confidently in lockstep.

 The second chamber was another cavern, this one made of black volcanic rock. It was smaller than the first, perhaps three-quarters of the length, but the same approximate width. There were no stalactites in here and the room was bathed in a red glow.

The glow emanated from four pools of bubbling lava. Each pool had a rough diameter of three metres, and they were situated on alternating sides of the room, two apiece. The closest to us, on our left, was fifteen metres away and we could feel the heat from where we stood. I didn’t need Quixbix to inform me that if we got too close to those pools, we’d start taking fire damage, though he did.

We were standing on a three-by-three metre granite platform, with a drop of about a foot to the black volcanic rock flooring. This was a safe zone of sorts, similar to the vestibule we were in before we entered the Skreecher cavern.

Although we couldn’t see Carl’s team through the shimmer of the portal, we could see the limestone cave system. We wouldn’t be prevented from passing through, but if we did, we would be returned to the exit of the dungeon and be unable to return.

Carl’s team hadn’t joined us.

I scanned the black rock, looking for any sign of what we would face.

<You won’t be able to spot any hidden mobs from the safe area or analyse any visible ones> Quixbix piped up.

I grunted impatiently in response.

“Where are they?” Shana inquired about our reluctant teammates.

<The morons probably forgot about the safe area and are hoping to leave you to fight the monsters alone. Valiant types, you can’t trust them. I’ve told you that before, right?> Quixbix answered.

“Yes, Quix, you have,” I chuckled.

<Jokes on them. With chamber one clear and you having entered the next they only have three minutes to come through or be expelled from the dungeon. What’s more, as soon as you step off and into the chamber, this plinth will no longer be a safe zone> he advised.

As he finished mind-speaking, the shimmering portal vibrated faster, and Jackson stepped through and joined us on the granite platform.

He blinked rapidly and took in his new surroundings and grimaced. Then he spotted us staring at him and looked down at the ground shamefacedly.

“Uh…yeah…uh…Carl and Kelly said…” he mumbled.

“Carl and Kelly wanted to leave us to deal with this alone,” I finished for him.

“Yeah, that’s about the size of it,” he admitted.

“But you came through to help us anyway?” I suggested.

“Well, sorta. We can’t stay on the other side for long without being kicked from the run. And, well, it seems kinda shitty,” he explained.

“Well, thank you anyway. If you don’t mind me saying, kind of shitty, pretty much sums Carl and his cronies up. Why do you and Tommy hang out with them anyway?” I asked.

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“Habit, I guess,” he started. “Carl wasn’t always like this, though Kelly was always prone to shit-stirring. Carl was more like Tommy and I, athletically compromised, as we grew up, and then he kind of filled out last summer. I think he thought that would automatically make him popular, like in the movies. Then when that didn’t really happen, he got real bitter and mean. Tommy and I were just hoping he’d get over it, but then other stuff happened, then this…” he trailed off.

“And you didn’t want to try and do it alone,” I guessed.

Jackson scratched the back of his head. “Strength in numbers, right? Gamers, geeks, and nerds unite to rule the world,” he chuckled. “Problem is we underestimated how many gamers, geeks, and nerds Carl had alienated in the last year by being such a nasty fuckwit.”

“I heard about Carlos and his sister,” I commented.

“You heard that,” he said, surprised. “I thought we were too far away.”

Internally I kicked myself for letting that slip. “I have hidden talents,” I prevaricated. “I’m Torin and this is Shana,” I introduced us and hoped that would deflect any further prying from Jackson.

“Jackson,” he replied.

“It’s nice to formally meet you, Jackson,” Shana said graciously, as she stepped forward and shook his hand.

Jackson’s cheeks already a ruddy rouge from the heat in the room, notched up a few extra shades of crimson from just touching her hand.

Hot girl, the best weapon in my arsenal.

“I don’t suppose there is much chance that the aforementioned fuckwits will wait too long and get kicked out,” I asked, changing the subject as Shana returned to my side.

“Not much,” Jackson admitted. “They will get a prompt at thirty seconds and as long as they are close enough to the way into this chamber will be asked if they want to proceed instead of being kicked out.”

“Shame. How do you know that?” I inquired.

“I called up and read the Framework help pages on my character sheet the first night,” he answered nonchalantly.

“There are help pages,” I exclaimed.

I expressed my surprise a bit too loudly as Jackson’s dark green brows furrowed with a hint of suspicion.

“Sure, there are help pages. How did you find out so much without them?” he asked.

Loose lips, twice in as many minutes. “Hidden talents,” I grunted a second time.

Needing to change the subject again I spoke before he could ask for any further clarification.

“Anyway, as grateful as I am that you’ve volunteered to assist, I’m expecting some fire-based mobs when we get started in here. I don’t think your fireball spell will be of much use,” I alluded.

“It wasn’t a spell,” Jackson corrected me kindly. “I’m a sorcerer and we don’t get any spells. We can channel mana to create elemental effects like that wave of fire. As a baseline sorcerer, I can use any element, I’m not limited to fire, but the more varied my usage, the more difficult it will make specialising later. So, I’m trying to avoid it if I can.”

I nodded in understanding.

“Well, hopefully, Shana and I can handle whatever this room has to offer. Can we rely on you to step in if we need help?” I pressed.

“Carl won’t like it, but then he doesn’t seem to like much these days. So, yeah, you can rely on me,” he answered solemnly.

“Good man,” I enthused. “Okay, I can’t be arsed to wait for them and we’re going to get started. You can stay up here, for now. We’ll call out if we need help, but I think we’ll be good.”

Jackson smiled in response.

“Ready, Shana,” I asked her.

She moved in quick as a snake and pressed her lips to mine. “Always,” she giggled.

“Brazen temptress,” I joked, and stepped off the platform, leaving a freshly blushing Jackson in my wake.

Shana stepped off after me. I had elected to debark the safe area on the right closest to the volcanic rock wall and furthest away from the lava pool.

I narrowed my eyes, concentrated on the pool, and picked up movement that ran counter to the lava’s lethargic bubbling and analysed.

Red Slime x5
Grade: W Level:  1
HP: 200	Value: -
Threat: Moderate	XP: -
Red Slimes are a primary colour slime, the lowest threat for this creature type. Red Slimes have an affinity for fire and regain Hit Points from damage of that type. They are vulnerable to cold. Like all slimes, they have very high mitigation against physical damage, and low mitigation from other sources. (Fire excepted.)

 

“Red slimes,” I announced for Jackson’s benefit.

It was time to face the first genuine challenge Darkwyrlds posed me.

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