“Really, dude?” I grumbled as I transferred the money to him. “Your assistance is going to bankrupt me here.”
Crash stepped up and grabbed the vials. “If this works, I’ll pay you back,” he said, handing two of them to me. “The rabbit’s dose is all yours.”
“Great, thanks.” I pulled the cork from one of the little tubes and tossed the potion back. It tasted like cinnamon candy, and it burned a little going down. But the heat spread through me quickly, warming me all the way to my numb fingers and toes. Even my ears got some feeling back in them. “Okay, this stuff is awesome,” I said.
Nova lowered her vial from her lips with an incredulous smile. “Agreed,” she said. “And … uh, if you don’t mind, I have a question for you, King Murnath.”
“Please, my dear, it’s merely Janno now. My fine grandson, King Voornath, now holds the title of ruler of the dwarves of Ruul,” he said. “What is your question?”
She took a deep breath. “The legends say you battled the Storm of Eternal Desolation, and that you nearly defeated the enemy single-handedly before you were … uh, killed,” she said. “I was wondering about this storm. Is it the Maelstrom?”
A look of sorrow came over Janno’s face. “Is that what you young people are calling it these days?” he said, easing into a melancholy smile. “Indeed, the Storm of Eternal Desolation is one and the same as the enemy Ruul now faces — and, as I understand it, other worlds as well.”
“Oh, sure. You’ll answer questions if a pretty girl asks them,” I said, winking at Nova so she’d know I was kidding. “Other worlds. You mean like ours, right?”
“Yes, indeed. The Storm is a fierce enemy, which can only be defeated by one with pure intentions.” Janno looked hard at me. “And now, my fine young adventurers, I will be on my way. Until we meet again.”
With that, Janno and his food stand vanished in a puff of golden smoke.
18
“See, this is why everyone hates the water levels,” Crash said as we trudged back across the frozen wasteland the way we’d come. “They’re always a huge pain in the ass.”
“Yeah, no kidding. At least we got lucky,” I said as I checked the new map again. Which was leading us right back to the lake.
I didn’t know the actual destination we wanted, so I’d asked the map for directions to the boss fight. What showed up on the scroll was a whole lot of nothing, except for the mountain-shape at the very bottom of the map labeled the Cavern of the Night Lake. Apparently, we were supposed to get off the ship, and then turn around and get back on it.
If we’d kept going the way we had been, we probably would’ve frozen to death. Eventually.
“Was it really luck, though?” Nova said next to me as she peered over at the map. “I mean, King … uh, Janno said that appearing to you wasn’t random, and that you’d figure it out. Do you know what he meant?”
“No idea,” I told her. What I actually had was a feeling, one I wasn’t sure about. I knew there was something in Ruul — maybe the AI behind this world, or possibly even the Maelstrom itself — that had been trying to convince me to give up and go home, ever since the beginning. I’d seen it manifest in a few NPCs, like the demonic talking tree that had helped us fight the Skeleton King. It had even used George as a conduit a time or two, trying to warn me off this whole thing.
But I’d seen another presence, too, one that seemed to be trying to help me. Now I thought that maybe the helpful one was Janno, kind of testing the waters with me before he decided to full-on manifest. I just wasn’t going to mention all of that yet, since it’d sound like I’d lost my fucking mind.
And speaking of George, I thought as I glanced at the slight bulge between Nova’s shoulders. “Are you really going to let him chill there all the way back?” I said.
“It’s no problem, really,” she said with a smile. George had conned her into letting him snuggle up in the hood of her cloak for a nap, claiming that his poor little bunny feet couldn’t take any more hopping through the snow. As if rabbits weren’t built for cold weather — especially frost rabbits. “I can’t resist him. He’s just so sweet.”
“Yeah, sweet enough to give you cavities,” Crash said with a wry smirk. “Trust me, it’s all a front. One of these days he’s gonna kill us all in our sleep.”
“I heard that, loser,” George said, his voice muffled inside the cloak hood. He popped his head up and wrinkled his nose at Crash, and then sighed. “You’re really no fun to pick on, you know that?” he said. “How long until we get Tubby back, again?”
“Who’s Tubby?” Nova said, trying to look back at George.
“Two’ Manchu. He’s our barbarian,” I said as I concentrated on the map, trying to dismiss my worry. It was killing me that I couldn’t just go after him immediately, especially since I had no idea what was happening to him right now. Sabre could be torturing him for all I knew. But I wasn’t going to risk a rescue until I was strong enough to do it right. “He got himself kidnapped. We think,” I added.
“There’s no ‘think’ about it. He wouldn’t have ditched us on purpose,” Crash said as his jaw firmed. “That crazy bitch forced him out.”
I gave a vague shrug. “Well, that’s why we’re here. To make sure we can get him back,” I said. “And we get to save Terra, too. So, let’s just get through this place and move on.”
“Uh. That might be easier said than done,” George said as he suddenly scrambled from Nova’s hood and hopped lightly to the ground, pointing a paw ahead. “I think we’re gonna have company.”
I followed his gesture. We’d just come up a slight rise, and the entrance to the cave was in sight. There were also three of those ice mounds I’d noticed when we first started across the wasteland — and they were changing shape. Thick, jagged crystal formations extended from the surface to form rudimentary arms and legs, and then massive, pointy heads.
The ice crystal monsters rose up with a roar and shambled toward us.
“Great. These things can’t be the boss,” I said as I drew my sword. “Okay, so fire beats water, right? Let’s burn these mothers down.”
Crash grinned as he produced his new sword and shield. “Time to test out my water bonuses,” he said, slapping the sword against the shield like a Roman gladiator heading into battle. “Still interested in taking bets, rabbit? Because I’ll bet you I can take one of these uglies out faster than you.”
“You’re on, loser!” George bounded forward, toward the monster on the right. “Ugh, that just doesn’t have the same ring as Tubby, and I can’t call you Squishy anymore. What about Stretch? Okay, nope, that won’t work,” he said, shaking his head. “Don’t worry. I’ll get it.”
“Yeah, you do that. Meanwhile, I’ll be over here winning,” Crash said as he headed to the left.
That left the middle one for me. I moved forward, hearing Nova cast Weaken Horde behind me as I targeted the six-foot shambling ice sculpture with a gesture. “Fire Wall!” I shouted. A wall of flames engulfed the monster, and it let out a roar of outrage. There was a brief blue-white flash from inside the fire, and a massive ice shard burst through, heading straight toward me.
I dove aside and rolled once in the snow, feeling a slight blast as the ice bolt missed me. When I sprang to my feet, the fire was out, and the ice creature was moving away from a melted patch in the snow. At least it was slowed down.
Crash and George had already fired off a few attacks. I focused on the one I’d hit, drawing my sword back and charging ahead as the monster roared again. This time I saw a blue-white glow in its open mouth and knew it was about to spit another ice bolt. I watched without slowing down, and when the projectile hurled toward me, I jumped aside and brought my sword around in a half-spin, shattering the shard in mid-air.
“Revering Vendetta!” I called as I leapt at the monster, driving my glowing green sword deep into its body. The ice creature burst into a cloud of snow and ice fragments that surrounded me for a few seconds like an angry little blizzard
before settling to the ground, and I noticed my experience bar was almost full. One more of these guys and I’d level again.
I glanced aside and saw Crash finish off his opponent with the Defender’s Sword. To my left, George had just knocked the third one down with Wind Blast, but it was getting back up. “You just lost me a bet, you giant frozen turd! Eat my ice!” he howled as he leapt up and blasted the monster with a massive frost attack. The crystal creature ground to a creaking halt, and then exploded.
Just then, an immense crackling sound echoed through the frigid air. Three more ice mounds rose from the snow and started forming more monsters.
It looked like I’d get my next level after all.
“Fire Wall!” I shouted at the nearest one, surrounding it in flames before it was fully formed. This one took less time to break through and vomited three fast-moving ice projectiles at me when it roared instead of one. I pelted it with Fireball a few times from a distance, checking to make sure George and Crash were handling the others. Nova stepped in and hit one with Star Scream, and then started renewing the Water Resist buff she’d cast earlier — we’d been out here long enough for them to wear off.
As I dodged another icy blast and rolled clear, the ice monster I was fighting lifted its misshapen arms and sent a bolt of energy into the air over my head. It formed a glowing ball that burst above me and pelted me with stinging hail, draining twenty-five percent of my health.
“Oh, that’s it. You’re dead,” I cried as I readied my sword. The fire attacks were working, but I wanted to try something stronger, and I remembered the move Bronze Armor Guy had used back in the PVP zone. I pointed the sword up and mentally replayed the skill — his axe had glowed red, and then he’d smashed it into the ground and started a bonfire with Crash as the kindling. “Fire Forge!” I called.
Nothing happened to the sword, and Elizabeth announced, “You are trying to learn the skill Fire Forge. However, you already have ten active skills. Please—”
“Yeah, yeah, retire a skill and I have ten seconds,” I interrupted her. “Damn it! Okay, retire skill Blade Rush.”
Blade Rush vanished from my skills list, and Fire Forge replaced it. “You have learned the skill Fire Forge,” Elizabeth informed me, and I could’ve sworn she was laughing. “It is now available for use.”
“Uh-huh, great, thanks,” I said shortly. “Let’s try this again. Fire Forge!”
This time my sword lit up glowing red. I took a long step toward the monster, which was opening its mouth in a roar for another ice shard attack and slammed the tip of the sword into the ground.
A massive spout of flames blazed from the ground to surround the enemy, and the ice monster’s shriek cut off as it exploded into a flurry of snow that smothered the fire.
“Level Up!” Elizabeth said. “You have reached level 18. You now have 383 health and 321 mana.”
I heaved a breath and looked around. Crash must’ve defeated the monster he was fighting a minute before me, because I only saw one left. It was roaring at George, a blue-white glow gleaming from its mouth, and Crash was charging after it with his sword upraised while George yelled at him to lay off his kill. The ice beast blew apart when Crash cleaved it in half.
“Okay, that’s it!” George shouted. “I know what I’m calling you now, Kill Stealer. I had him!”
“Uh-huh, sure you did. You’re welcome,” Crash said as he panted and leaned on his sword. “You okay, Nova?”
His words startled me. I finally noticed Nova kneeling on the ground, gripping her staff in front of her. “What happened?” I said as I headed for her.
“She got hit with one of those hail-burst bomb things,” Crash said, brushing a patch of snow off his chest. “Are you guys feeling the cold again? Because I am, and it hasn’t been an hour yet from those Warming Potions.”
“Yeah, that might have something to do with all the snow and ice attacks actually soaking us?” I smirked and reached Nova just as she pushed herself up. “Doing all right?”
“Fine. I was running low on mana, so I used Body to Soul. But then that attack knocked me down pretty low,” she said, her gaze going fuzzy as she checked her HUD. “Oh my God, I’m down to fifteen percent health?” she rasped.
“Don’t worry. We’ll hang here and regen before we head into the cavern,” I said.
“Or not,” Crash half-shouted as he adjusted the grip on his sword. “We’ve got more coming!”
Damn it. Three more ice mounds had formed about halfway between us and the cavern. “How many times are these things going to respawn?” I said, preparing to go back into battle.
“Wait! I think I have an idea,” Nova said uncertainly. “It’s something I saw in an online game Terra played like six times before she rage quit. This one stage kept spawning one monster per player, and her team was at it for almost two hours before they figured out they had to kill all of them at the same time to move to the next stage.” She bit her lower lip. “They keep coming in threes, so maybe that’s it?”
George cleared his throat. “Did you forget about me? There’s four of us.”
“Of course, I didn’t forget you, George. But … you’re a pet,” she said, glancing nervously from George to me. “We only have three players.”
“I think you’re onto something,” I said with a smile. “Can’t hurt to try, right?”
Nova looked relieved. I had a feeling it was because I didn’t say her idea was stupid — that seemed like something her sister probably told her all the time. “Okay, so I’ll weaken them and you guys attack, and then I can hit them with Sparkle Death,” she said. “Um. I mean, if you think that’ll work?”
I actually did think it would work, but I knew how afraid she was of dying. And with her health this low, she had to be terrified right now. “You can just stay back and cast buffs,” I said. “We’ll figure out the timing.”
“No, we have to do it this way. If something goes wrong, we’ll just end up having to fight another wave,” she said as she straightened fully, her blue eyes sparking with determination. “I’ve got this.”
“Guys!” Crash shouted as his sword flashed through a swarm of ice projectiles. “Whatever we’re doing, we’d better do it now!”
I nodded at Nova. “All right. That’s the plan, then.”
Nova started out by casting Weaken Horde, and then Crash, George and I each went after a monster. Crash threw out Spectral Blades and Fire Wall, and then charged in close with the Defender’s Sword, while George pumped out wind blasts one after another. I hit the third monster with Fire Forge, and then threw in Stun Shock for good measure. “Okay, pull back,” I called as I started to retreat toward Nova. “I’ll keep them busy for a few seconds so Nova can do her thing. Chaotic River!”
The red split in the ground melted the snow for a foot on either side as black skeletons swarmed out and rushed at the ice monsters. As they collided on the snowy field in a crunch of ice and bone, Nova raised her staff. “Sparkle Death!” she screamed, her voice booming and echoing in the open space around us.
An insanely bright beam exploded from the staff and branched off, striking the three shambling ice creatures at the same time. As they burst into ice and snow fragments, the mini-blizzards drew together into one massive explosion of snow that shot up a good twenty feet before drifting gently to the ground in fat white flakes.
“Well, that didn’t happen before,” Nova gasped as she leaned on her staff. “That’s a good sign, right?”
“Hell yeah, it is. I think you did it!” I said as I went over to her and threw an arm around her without thinking. “Didn’t I say you were stronger than you thought?”
She blushed and looked at the ground, but she didn’t move away. “Thank you, Kahn,” she whispered. “Nobody ever listens to me.”
“Okay, boss, quit moving in on my action,” George said as he hopped over and leaned against my ankle. “If we’re gonna take five here, that pretty lap is all mine. Oh … and thanks for saving me, I guess,” he m
uttered at Crash. “You’re still a kill stealer.”
Crash actually laughed. “Whatever you say, Fluffy Butt.”
Resting was the furthest thing from my mind, but we did have to recharge since we still had to face the boss. Which meant staying out here in the cold, soaked with hail and melting snow.
I was almost looking forward to doing the fire area now. At least it’d be warm.
19
When we got back on the ship, it started across the lake on its own, just like the first time. The hatch was locked back up, but now there was a strong, fishy smell wafting up from the iron grate. I tried to use my lock picking skill on it again, just for the hell of it, but Elizabeth informed me that it was a timed lock and my skill was useless. So, we were stuck waiting to see what happened.
We sat in a row on a deck along the rope railing, where the cannonballs had been the last time. They were gone now, but there were still a bunch of gunpowder barrels on the other side. “Hey, does anybody else think that was a little weird?” I said as I looked back at the shrinking cavern exit and the dazzling frozen land beyond. “Nothing attacked us when we went out there, but those ice monsters came after us when we tried to come back.”
“Yeah, that was probably part of a puzzle. Just like everything else in this stupid water level,” Crash said as he scuffed a foot along the deck boards. “We didn’t figure out that we were supposed to board the ship again, so the enemies spawned when we headed the right way as a penalty. That was a mechanic that came with the spec notes we got. We just never incorporated it into Titan Gate because it sucks.”
“Wait, what about Titan Gate?” Nova said, leaning forward slightly to look at Crash. “Spec notes for what?”
“Crash is a world champion player, but he was also on the development team for Titan Gate,” I said with an ironic smile. None of that really seemed to matter anymore, since everything was so different here. “They didn’t know it, but the developers got a crapload of notes about Ruul, which no one told them was an actual place. There was a lot of stuff they never used for the game. So, even people who kick ass in Titan Gate can end up struggling here.”
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