by Lucas Flint
The Sewers were huge, much bigger than real life sewers. The sewer extended for hundreds of feet in either direction, twisting out of sight in each direction. Solid concrete walkways stood on either side of the river of sludge and garbage that made its way between the walkways at a sluggish pace. Dim lights stood along the walls, providing enough illumination by which to see the Sewers themselves. The stink was horrible down here, to the point where I could barely breathe until Cy muttered something and a calm and pleasing smell blew through just then that smelled kind of like strawberries.
[Sidekick Cyclone] used Sweet Scent! Resistance to negative effects from bad smells increased by 50%! Duration: 5 minutes.
“Huh,” I said as I read the notification. I glanced at Cy. “I didn’t know you could do that.”
“It’s a new Power I got when we were grinding a few days ago,” Cy replied. “Honestly, I just used it because everything stinks down here. I thought I was going to gag to death from the stench alone.”
For once, I agreed with Cy. “Well, it is a sewer, after all. Of course it’s going to stink.” I looked around suddenly. “Wait, where is Funky?”
“Right here,” said Funky above us. I looked up and saw Funky making his way down the ladder, Lennox the dragon sitting securely on his shoulders. “Just making sure the manhole cover is sealed. While I think Sir Stewart should keep those players busy, I don’t want to risk any of them following us down here.”
“Sir Stewart?” I repeated. “Are you talking about the Sewer Croc that’s currently eating everyone alive?”
“Yes,” said Funky as he stepped off the last rung and turned to face us with a quizzical look on his face. “Don’t you know that’s his name?”
“I didn’t even know he had a name,” I said.
“Ah, I see,” said Funky, nodding. “Your Scan must not be at a high enough level to see the names of individual creatures yet. No matter. What matters is that Sir Stewart was kind enough to agree to help me save you guys like the gentleman he is.”
“You mean you sent that monster after those guys?” asked Cy. He glanced at the waters flowing beside us with terror in his eyes. “You didn’t pull us down here just to feed us to Stewart’s friends, did you?”
Funky shook his head. “Don’t worry. I didn’t accept the Universal Mission to kill you guys. I accepted the other one, though.”
“How did you send such a powerful monster after them?” I said. “That Croc—Sir Stewart—was Level Sixty!”
Funky shrugged. “Like I told you, I’m a Beastmaster. One of the Powers exclusive to this class is Tame. It allows me to tame any monster or animal as long as my Charisma is sufficiently high enough. The higher level a monster, the more Charisma I need to control it. While a useful Power, it can be risky, especially if I take control over something as powerful as Sir Stewart up there. And, of course, my control only lasts until I run out of Energy or the animal in question goes outside of my range, which is about three miles. I also get experience points for each person a Tamed Beast kills.”
“What happens once the animal leaves your control?” I asked with a gulp.
“It goes back to being an ordinary animal,” said Funky with another shrug. “So, once Sir Stewart leaves my range, he’ll turn back into an ordinary NPC enemy, meaning he won’t obey my commands if I see him again.”
“So you’re just going to allow a twenty-five-foot-long crocodile roam the streets of Adventure City without any supervision?” asked Cy in horror. “What if it eats someone?”
Once again, Funky shrugged. “One of the other players will probably kill it at some point. Sewer Crocs are tough, but I can think of a dozen players off the top of my head who would have no trouble killing such a beast if it decided to pick a fight with them. But we should keep going. Don’t want to give those Team Gears guys a chance to catch up with us.”
Funky immediately began walking down the right side of the sewer, which I guessed went deeper into the city. Cy and I quickly followed, with me walking fast to keep up with Funky’s long strides, while Cy stayed close behind us, glancing at the waters every now and then as if he was afraid of seeing another Sewer Croc.
“Thanks for the save back there, Funky,” I said as I walked beside him. “I thought for sure that Cy and I were going to be goners.”
“No problem, Winter,” said Funky without looking at me. “Like I said, I didn’t accept the Universal Mission about killing you because I saw right through Dark Kosmos’ motives.”
“Wow, really?” I said. “Not that I think you are lying, but how do I make sure you really are on my side?”
“Do you notice the blue glow around my nametag?” asked Funky, gesturing at his nametag floating over his head, which was indeed glowing blue. “That’s what players who accepted the UM to defeat Dark Kosmos got. Players who accepted the other UM, on the other hand, have red around their nametags.”
I nodded, remembering the red glows around the nametags of each member of Team Gears I saw earlier. “I see. Is that a feature of the game?”
Funky nodded. “Exactly. It was originally designed to allow players to identify other players who were undertaking the same UM as them in order to make it easier to form Teams, seeing as most UMs require Teams in order to complete. This feature has rarely been used, though—in fact, I think this might be the first time it’s ever been used—because there is usually only one UM at a time, so most of the time all players who accept a UM have the same color around their nametag anyway. It’s a simple but effective feature, which, in my humble opinion, are usually the best features.”
There it was again. “You sound like maybe you had a hand in developing the game or something.”
Funky shrugged again as we walked and did not look at me. “What can I say? I’m just a really big fan of Capes Online. I always wanted to be a game designer, but in truth, I’m just a fan who’s done my homework. Nothing more, nothing less.”
My eyes squinted. If there was one thing I was good at, it was knowing when people told lies. Sure, Capes Online wasn’t one hundred percent realistic, but one thing I had noticed was that the avatars for player characters and NPCs tended to mimic human expressions exactly. And I could tell, based on Funky’s shifty expression, that he was hiding some rather important information from me about his true identity. At the same time, however, Funky clearly was not going to give me a straight answer about his identity, so I decided to focus on other, more important things instead.”
“All right,” I said. “So I take it that most players have accepted the UM to kill me?”
“Pretty much,” said Funky. “When I left my Base, I didn’t see any other players with a blue nametag other than myself. Of course, I’ve avoided other players for the most part, because I have a feeling they would try to kill me if they knew I wanted to kill Dark Kosmos rather than you, but—”
“Idiots,” I said as we turned a corner and went deeper down into the sewers. “Every last one of them. Even the other Heroes have sided with Dark Kosmos. Anyone who thinks Dark Kosmos is going to hold up his end of the deal should he ever lay his greasy hands on me is delusional.”
“Dark Kosmos understands players,” said Funky. He glanced at me as we walked. “He knows that humans in general tend to go for the low-hanging fruit. When given a choice between killing a powerful boss villain like him—holed up in a nearly impenetrable fortress—and going after a fairly low-level player like yourself, he correctly understood what most people would choose to do, regardless of Alignment. Which, of course, is why we must kill him.”
“You sound like you understand Dark Kosmos pretty well yourself,” I pointed out.
Another shrug from Funky. “He’s an NPC. They’re not hard to figure out, especially if they’re Villains.”
I nearly started when Funky said that. “Wait, you mean Dark Kosmos is actually an NPC? He’s not just some suped up player character who somehow hacked the game?”
“As far as I can tell, yes, Dark Kosmos is
indeed an NPC,” said Funky.
“An NPC who is aware that he is an NPC,” I said. “Not like Cy, in other words.”
“What is not like me?” asked Cy behind us, who had apparently not been following our conversation.
“Nothing,” I said over my shoulder to Cy. “Just keep your eyes on the water. Don’t want to end up getting eaten by one of Sir Stewart’s relatives.”
Cy made a tiny squeaking sound and looked at the water again. I felt a little bad about forcing him to do that, but I didn’t think he would have much to add to our conversation at the moment and I didn’t want to scare or confuse him.
“Dark Kosmos is definitely a self-aware NPC,” said Funky. He shook his head. “Self-aware … and angry. Angry enough to trap every single player in the game and force us to turn on one of our own in a sadistic game of cat-and-mouse that no one will win. I can guarantee you that this wasn’t programmed into the game. Especially the part where he cut off all connection with the outside world so we can’t call for help.”
I glanced at my character screen and saw that the ‘Help’ button which normally allowed me to speak with Chuck was still disabled. “I don’t understand it. How did he gain sapience if he’s just an NPC?”
“That’s a question we’re all wondering,” said Funky. “I suspect outside influence must have played a role. Someone outside of Capes Online must have somehow activated Dark Kosmos and unleashed him onto the world before SI Games had finished developing him.”
“You mean Dark Kosmos was always meant to be in the game?” I said. “Then how come no one recognized him when he first appeared?”
“Simple,” said Funky. He tapped the side of his head. “Knowledge of Dark Kosmos hasn’t been programmed into the heads of the NPCs yet. I am certain that once the developers felt ready to release Dark Kosmos that his download would have also updated the NPCs’ memories with knowledge of him. Either way, it looks like he was let out early and somehow gained self-awareness at the same time.”
Okay, I was convinced now that Funky played some kind of role in Capes Online, even if he wasn’t a designer or developer. He understood the process behind Capes Online to be anything other than a normal player, but I still didn’t accuse him of anything just yet. “Well, how likely is it that SI Games is aware of this and is going to do something about it?”
“I would say they are one hundred percent aware of this,” said Funky as we climbed a set of stairs up to a higher level of the sewers. “As is every government in the world, who are now in danger of losing a fair chunk of their citizens to the game unless we can stop Dark Kosmos. I imagine SI Games has its developers working overtime to correct this, though whether they’ll be able to save us in time … I can’t say.”
I grimaced at Funky’s last sentence. “If no one is coming to save us, then I guess we have to save ourselves. We need to find Dark Kosmos and kill him. It’s the only way.”
“That’s where we’re going,” said Funky. He gestured ahead. “The sewer system of Adventure City connects to every single building in the city, including Dark Kosmos’ headquarters. In fact, that’s why I came down here in the first place. Dark Kosmos’ current Hideout is too heavily protected on the surface. It might be easier for us to break in from underneath.”
“I hope you’re right,” I said, looking ahead as we walked, “because if we can’t enter through this way, then—”
A sudden scratching noise caught my ears. It was just barely audible above the din of the roaring waters below, but it was definitely distinct and noticeable. If I had to guess, it was probably coming from the ceiling, but when I looked up, I didn’t see anything except the ceiling of the sewers.
“Did you hear that?” I asked Funky, coming to a stop and looking around.
Funky stopped a few feet ahead of me and frowned. “Hear what?”
“A scratching sound,” I said, still looking around. “Like someone is scraping against the concrete.”
Cy had also come to a stop and was biting on his fingernails. “Another Sewer Croc?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Too soft to be a Sewer Croc. It has to be something—”
The scratching sound suddenly grew louder and louder. It now came from either end of the sewers and this time, even Cy and Funky heard it. The three of us closed in together, waiting for the source of the scratching sound to show itself.
Perhaps that was a mistake because at that moment, a mass of spiders exploded out from behind us.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The dark mass of huge spiders rushed toward us like an oncoming wave. Without hesitation, I Scanned the horde of spiders and got this:
Kosmos Spider Horde
LEVELS: 5-15
HEALTH: 10-20
ALIGNMENT: Villain
CLASS: Untamed Beast
WEAK POINT: Body
Kosmos Spiders are monsters created from Dark Kosmos’ own evil essence. Lacking individual wills and minds, they often travel in massive hordes that devour anyone not fast enough to evade them. Although fragile and easy to kill individually, together they form a mighty horde that even a Sewer Croc would tremble before. It is recommended you do not fight a horde alone.
Congratulations! You performed your first ever Group Scan! This is a sub-Power of Scan that allows you to Scan Groups, not just the individuals who make them up! Level up Scan to get even more information for Group Scan!
“Those are Dark Kosmos’ minions,” I said. I glanced at Funky. “Funky, we’ve got to run. No way we can take on so many of those at once.”
Funky, however, shook his head. “We can’t outrun them, but we don’t need to. Lennox, go! Fire Breath!”
With a mighty but tiny cry, Lennox launched off of Funky’s shoulder and shot toward the incoming Kosmos Spider Horde like a bullet. Lennox looked positively tiny in comparison to the massive horde of Kosmos Spiders and I wanted to look away, knowing that the tiny dragon was going to die as soon as he collided with the horde.
But that didn’t happen. Instead, Lennox took in a deep breath and unleashed a huge burst of fire that was way too big for a dragon his size. The fire consumed the Kosmos Spider Horde in an instant, which had been going too fast to dodge. Not that there was any room in the sewer to dodge such a huge blast, though.
Heat rolled off in waves as Lennox burned every last Kosmos Spider to ash. I could even hear the Kosmos Spiders screeching in pain. Combined with the heat—which bothered me a lot due to my Ice Man Costume—and the general stench of the sewer, it made me feel sick to my stomach. Still, I stayed where I was, watching as Lennox’s flames continued to pour out of his mouth seemingly forever, until Funky shouted, “That’s enough, Lennox!”
Lennox suddenly closed his jaw shut, cutting off his huge flame blast. Then Lennox flew back over to Funky and landed on his shoulder, a smug look on his tiny dragon features.
And I couldn’t blame him. Every last Kosmos Spider was ash. Where there had once been a living, squirming horde of monster spiders ready to eat us, there was now a massive pile of blackened ash, much of which had fallen into the wastewaters below to be swept downstream to wherever Adventure City’s waste was deposited. With Cy’s Sweet Scent having worn off at some point, the sewers smelled like a mixture of human waste and burned ash, although Cy quickly used Sweet Scent again to make the stench bearable.
“Whoa,” I said, staring at the pile of ash that had once been the Kosmos Spider Horde. “Did Lennox really do that all by himself?”
Funky nodded as he patted Lennox on the head. “Sure. Lennox is Level 20, so he’s a fair bit stronger than the Horde. Plus, Kosmos Spiders, despite being literal incarnations of evil, are still weak to Fire like most normal spiders are. And seeing as I’ve been min-maxing Lennox’s Fire Breath Power, I knew he could mow them all down quite easily.”
“How did you know they were weak to Fire?” I said, glancing at Funky. “My own Scan didn’t show anything like that. It just said their Weak Point is ‘Body’.”
I bit my lower lip. I wished I had known that before, but I guess I was still a noob and still had a lot to learn. In any case, I made a mental note to use Scan more often in order to level it up faster, especially after getting the notification for Group Scan.
“That … was … AWESOME!” Cy said. He did a quick dance on the spot. “I’m so excited that I need to do a victory dance!”
Cy began doing a rather strange dance that consisted of him jerking his arms around in a weird, awkward manner. His dance was so strange that even Lennox was looking at Cy like he was crazy. I probably would have stared, too, but I was pretty used to Cy’s eccentricities by now, so I just rolled my eyes.
“I imagine that is why most players aren’t using the sewers to get to Dark Kosmos,” said Funky, tapping his chin in thought.
I looked at Cy. “What, do you mean Cy’s dance moves? They’re awkward, but they’re not that bad.”
“No, I am referring to the Horde,” said Funky, gesturing at the giant pile of ash sitting not too far away from us. “I could see how that Horde could overtake less aware players, especially players who aren’t even aware of the Kosmos Spiders’ weakness or who lack Fire Powers. If I didn’t have Lennox or had neglected to level up his Fire Breath Power, we probably wouldn’t have survived, either.”
I shuddered, imagining the horde of evil spiders ripping our flesh off our bones. It wasn’t a pretty mental image. “Would Ice Powers have worked as well?”
“Nope,” said Funky, “at least not as effectively as Fire. Kosmos Spiders, being made of pure evil, would only be inconvenienced by Ice in a very minor way unless you had some kind of area of effect attack that could strike multiple enemies at once hard and fast. Otherwise, Fire is the way to go.”
I nodded. It occurred to me that, aside from Ice Beam and Freezing Touch, I did not have any actual Ice-based area of effect attacks. I wondered if I would learn some more as time went on, because right now my only two Ice Powers seemed rather inadequate for dealing with multiple foes at once. “Then I guess we should keep going before more of Dark Kosmos’ minions come after us.”