Star Divers- Dungeons of Bane

by Stephen Landry

  This world we’re ready to die for.

  The people we are ready to die for.

  If something happens to me…you know.

  - Breq

  Location: Deep Space

  10 minutes from At Eternity

  I feel like if I was a hero I had been severely wounded. Lost. Out of my mind. The darkness of space driving myself and my team forward. Dozens of players chasing us. I gave Nel the order to destroy them by any means necessary while I tried to record my last will and testament. Not that I didn’t have faith in our abilities. Three starships had already fallen. Small, light freighters. My personal inbox was blowing up with threats from people in the real. Even news agencies were asking me what I’m planning and for details as to what exactly was going on. I ignored them. Sending a message to Hannah had already taken up too much of my time but I was not the only one locked in their room writing to people I cared about. We had to leave a record. The truth would come out eventually and when it did the world would shake until the events of this day faded. Some of the messages I received were from casualties of Lady Gray’s attack on the Spire. Others, from those blown away in the last few minutes by the Ibanez. All of us aboard were collecting small amounts of EXP whenever a starship went down and at the rate we were going I might even level up again. Only a few of the messages were encouraging, a handful of people who still believed in what we were doing.

  ‘Kill anything that comes after us,’ I ordered. Kira and Gorge were probably better leaders than I was, so too was Cass, but command had fallen to me. Each of us had played our part. Each of us had strengths and weaknesses.

  I was sitting in my room next to Aiko. I held a seven-string guitar in my hand. I had barely picked it up since playing Bane and I had an exact duplicate sitting in my penthouse at home. I strummed a few chords. I remembered my father teaching me to play. Coaching me while he played bass or drums. Teamwork was key. He was teaching me, even then. The more I reflected on everything the more I felt responsible. Reports were coming in. News of our merger with Moonrain Media. The entire world would be watching us again. I contacted Cass and together with Aiko began to walk towards the armoury, placing the guitar back against the wall of the room. It was a reminder that Bane was more than a game, infused as it was with such fine detail.

  Inside the armoury I needed to recharge my rifle and secure ammo. Might as well use this time to talk to the others.

  ‘Cass, you and Chaz shouldn’t come with us,’ I was looking her in the eye as we stood in the centre of our armoury. I was gathering ammo. At this point there was no way I was letting go of my gear.

  AKA Naomi.

  M7-7 Ki / Energy Rifle

  Description: Boss Slayer with Shadow ability to slow time.

  Level: 33

  Damage: 275

  Weight: 5.5 Ibs

  Weapon Type: Scout Rifle / Ki Rifle hybrid

  Rarity: Ultra-Rare

  Impact: 10

  Range: 9

  Stability: 9.5

  Reload Speed: 10

  RPM (rounds per minute): 300 bursts

  Affinity: 10

  Sharpness: 8.5

  Elemental: Shadow

  Critical Chance: 91%

  Modifiers: Bonus EXP gained against Robots,

  Bonus EXP against Hollows, Bonus EXP against Bosses

  Aegis - Re-forged Broadsword

  Cut down by the forces of Lintirmai, the depraved creature known only as the beast’s soul was imprisoned inside a great metal sword made from the hull of an ancient alien starship. Passed from one cursed soul to another the Aegis is a living weapon that not only protects its master but eventually devours their very being.

  That which may never die must be contained.

  Damage: 300 (with 25% chance of 420 damage critical)

  Class: None required

  Level Required: 50

  Weight: 10 Ibs

  Affinity: 90%

  Sharpness: None

  Elemental: Shadow - Unknown

  Modifiers: None

  ‘Shove it; like I’m going to let you go alone,’ she said, equipping a weapon from one of the adjoining lockers.

  ‘You aren’t strong enough.’

  ‘Strength is how you wield yourself as a weapon,’ she responded. Cass was right. Maybe I just wanted the affirmation. I was talking to everyone, one-on-one. If we weren’t all in this as a team we would lose. This wasn’t just another player event or raid.

  ‘Okay, I’ll count on you to have my back,’ I said extending my hand. I wasn’t going to try and talk her down. I knew it wouldn’t work. She and Damien had been close. She was just as invested in this battle as I was. If she could have gone head first into the first dungeon I’m sure she would have. Before we left the armoury to make our way back to the bridge Cass showed me her weapon. It was an artefact rifle similar, stat wise, to my own.

  Tyr

  TX-7 Artefact Energy Rifle

  Description:

  When the moment comes and the moon turns bright as blood, there a new brother shall cause the return of monsters and end an age of warlords. On this day the sky will turn red and together two shall feast on the flesh of the damned.

  Two Viking runes were carved into the side of the rifle.

  Level: 30

  Damage: 200

  Weight: 4.5 Ibs

  Weapon Type: Scout Rifle / Ki Rifle hybrid

  Rarity: Ultra-Rare

  Impact: 10

  Range: 9

  Stability: 9.5

  Reload Speed: 10

  RPM (rounds per minute): 300 bursts

  Affinity: 10

  Sharpness: 8

  Elemental: Unknown

  Critical Chance: 91%

  Modifiers: Bonus EXP gained against Robots,

  Bonus EXP against Hollows

  ‘I’ve been saving this for awhile,’ she said.

  ‘How did you get that?’

  ‘Earned it when I started playing, it was a level three weapon when I first acquired it; I was only a level ten. Found it inside a giant cauldron, that raiders were cooking Kel in. No matter whether I’ve used it or not the rifle always seems to keep pace with me. Last time I had it out, I was running to save your scrawny ass in the Spire. Lucky I didn’t use it on you,’ Cass smiled, polishing the runes on the gun. She was proud of the weapon and rightly so. An artefact rifle that levelled up without being used could have gone for a nice cut of credits on the black market. She could have sold it at any time but she held onto it.

  Cass gave me a long look. ‘Maybe talk Chaz away from the battle, he has more of a life outside the game than the rest of us. I’m not sure he truly understands what is going on.’

  She was right. If any of us had no reason to fight it was Chaz. He had joined us after the dungeon on Rem and had never even met Damien.

  ‘Chaz, I’m going to ready an escape pod for you,’ I spoke to him through a comm.

  ‘Negative sir, I’ve already booted up the Pilgrim and Radagast for Pierce. Together the three of us have spent a small fortune on some custom cosmetics and upgrades. Had them sent aboard the Ibanez while she was still docked in the Spire. A few surprises. Sealed the cockpit, added a few boosters, multipliers, oxygen tanks; I may not be joining you on the frontline but Pierce and I will be your support in space.’

  ‘You don’t have to come with us,’ I said.

  ‘All due respect, I’m a part of this now: same as you, same as the others.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  I couldn’t think of anything else to say so took a deep breath and confirmed the arrangement with Pierce. Tel was going to control the Radagast and Pierce was going to fly the Ibanez after the rest of us boarded Skull-Faced Man’s ship. If all went according to plan, they would defend us against any players or NPCs in the area.

  As I arrived alongside Gorge and Kira on the bridge, I reminded Chaz to make sure his weapons and armour were maxed out. He was still new after all.

  ‘Everyone say their goodbyes?
’ Gorge asked.

  ‘Affirmative,’ both Kira, Cass and I said, more or less together.

  Gorge nodded, his repaired arm smoothing his beard. ‘Good; should we go over the plan again?’

  ‘Pretty cut and dry: break in, kill Skully, break out,’ said Cass.

  ‘That’s oversimplifying it, but yes.’

  ‘How exactly are we breaking in?’ I asked, not quite caught up on details.

  ‘Nel is attaching a giant drill to the front of Eternal Night and we’re going to slam it into the side of their hull, take ‘em by surprise,’ Gorge gave a cheerful laugh.

  ‘Wouldn’t it be better if we teamed up with Lady Gray and took out their ship? Anything to avoid engaging in close combat,’ Cass asked.

  ‘Would be, but the Lady and several others are already there and in battle, not to mention Skully’s ship is twice as strong as a Titan; we don’t have the fire power,’ Gorge answered.

  ‘Gorge, I want to apologize again for thinking you were a robot,’ Kira said.

  ‘It’s okay, I’ve told you a dozen times I don’t blame you,’ he answered back.

  I was sorry too but the two of us were way past that now. We all had experienced moments of doubt in one another, that was a part of what made us grow as a team. Together we had grown in trust, life, strength and self-confidence. Each one of us levelling up.

  The ship shook as one of the vessels behind us broke through the shield.

  ‘Damnit! Nel, give me a quick update on the shields!’

  ‘Shields are at forty-two and holding; how or why is a great question,’ Nel responded.

  ‘Pierce is re-routing power from the STL drive, we won’t be able to make any jumps for awhile,’ Cass said, looking at ship’s various energy levels.

  ‘So no jumping out if something goes wrong,’ I said.

  ‘No jumping ever again, not without a new drive, Pierce is going to have to eject the core or we won’t make it,’ Cass looked worried but I knew Pierce must have had a plan. I was right. Cass and the rest of us watched as Pierce ejected the core behind the ship and it ignited, killing another dozen players in what looked like a small supernova.

  ‘Extraordinary,’ Nel said, clearly impressed.

  ‘That was our engine,’ I said back.

  ‘Only our jump engine, we are on our way to a world gate are we not?’ Nel had a good point.

  I doubled over in pain as I grasped my stomach. Cramps almost crippled me and for a moment it seemed there was no end to the pain. What if it got worse? These thoughts alone made my heart race faster, never mind the pain itself, all I could think about is what I would lose if the game kicked me out. I felt thirsty and tired but determined. It was clear all of us were feeling the strain of spending so long in virtual reality. For the moment all I could do was remind myself that once it was over I would be able to rest as long as I wanted.

  ‘Are you sure we’re ready?’ asked Kira.

  ‘As ready as we’ll ever be; we have no choice,’ I replied still holding my stomach.

  ‘Open your master preferences, turn your pain dampening down and override your pod logout control with this command,’ said Gorge handing me a piece of paper with code written on it.

  ‘What is this?’

  ‘This is how I manage to stay logged in almost days at a time,’ he answered, ‘it’s an override, a mod designed for disabled players like myself, so that we can log out at the time of our choosing. You’ll still feel some of the fatigue but I’ve got something for that as well,’ he finished, pulling out from a backpack a small packet of herbs, alongside a bag of jerky.

  An override, like the MEK, able to modify in-game controls. A part of me wondered if it was designed by the same player. Doubtful. This code, the handwriting, looked like it had been designed by Trace. I entered it just as Gorge suggested. Almost instantly, my stomach cramps began to dissipate. I thanked Gorge as he was crushing the herbs together in a steel bowl using the bottom side of his knife.

  - 1 handful of Blue Tea Leaf

  - 1 teaspoon of Spring Rue

  - 3 bits of Black Fenu

  - 1 batch of Candy Peppermint

  - 3 bits of Winter Grass

  ‘What is this?’ I asked.

  ‘Ingredients, which fused together will help keep you grounded.’

  ‘That’s an old shaman recipe isn’t it?’ said Kira.

  Gorge looked across at her with respect. ‘Yeah, cool that you noticed.’

  ‘You add the candy peppermint for taste, do you have anymore?’

  ‘I’ve got enough for all of us.’

  He still hadn’t opened the meat. I asked about it, ‘what is the jerky for?’

  ‘Me,’ he replied, taking a bite and offering us some.

  We were close. Another few minutes and we’d have to swap the shields to the front of the ship. We could see a projection of Lady Gray’s Titan and Skull-Faced Man’s ship sitting one on top of the other, surrounded by hundreds of swarming fighters. The exact size of each fleet was unknown. The Skull-Faced Man’s ship looked like it could hold thousands of such craft, which just made the idea of attacking them head on feel that much worse.

  ‘Another ship approaching from the rear,’ Nel said.

  ‘Take it out,’ I ordered one last time.

  Luck + 5

  Latent Power + 5

  Focus + 5

  Intimidation + 10

  Survival + 5

  29.

  Scout

  Location: Deep Space

  At Eternity

  Quick Lore

  World Gates are massive. Large circular objects that float near the edge of advanced systems, world gates such as At Eternity are usually the circumference of dwarf planets. A few World Gates take different forms, with variations in chambers. They collect and store power via cells attached all around their interior side, generating enough power to warp time and space. Warp Gates are accessed via a transmission code found in the codex of starships. They can, however, be hacked and / or activated via an internal interface.

  Location Discovered: At Eternity

  +1200 EXP

  The hangar door opened and we flew forward. We were several hundred yards from the hull of Skull-Faced Man’s ship. It was massive. An orbital carrier, twice the size of Lady Gray’s Titan. While Nel operated Eternal Night, we rode inside a string of drop pods attached the back of the mech like a kite. Aiko was scrunched in beside me, making it hard to see the outside, but I could feel we were covered in flames as several dozen boosters kicked on and off. The drill Gorge had attached to Eternal Night was used for mining ore from uninhabitable worlds and stood just as large as the mech itself. One of the reasons we had to use so many boosters was because of the unimaginable weight both the drill and mech produced. It was only in the absence of gravity that both moved together as one piece.

  Nel reached out, extending the mech’s body through space as small pieces of debris cracked against the outer surface of her mecha. Pressing forward into the hull again and again, like trying to chisel through a tank. After a minute the drill punctured through. I didn’t feel the impact or the shock waves of the clash of heavy metals. We all just drifted beside the enemy vessel until a large gap appeared, a white-hot ring calling us inside and a battleground for the nanites of hull’s repair systems. Now we had less than a minute to dive into the rabbit hole. The tip of the drill broke off. It was smashed at one end but both Nel and the rest of the mecha were in one piece. Unfortunately, the mecha as too big to move into the confines of the ship and Nel was forced to abandon it for the time being.

  Inside, we took a moment of silence. It was the first break we had since leaving the Spire. Everything was moving so fast; I was amazed I still had so much stamina.

  Cass and I agreed to scout ahead as much as we could, making sure to stay about a hundred yards clear of the others. Aiko followed us taking point. The three of us were scouts so it made sense. Everyone was using their class and class abilities to their utmost. Ready
for this encounter, Kira had even acquired a psi power called Healing that would allow her to heal us if we were in close range. The power cost 20 mana a time, with a 90 second cool-down per player, but it was comforting to know that if we found ourselves in a tight bind she could use it to our advantage. For his part, Gorge had acquired a new psi power called Hullbreaker that would allow him to use his fully upgraded arm to punch a hole through even the strongest metal. He could optimize the efficiency of the strike depending on how much mana he used.

  Location Discovered: Orbital Carrier

  +1000 EXP

  The inside hallways of the carrier were a bloodbath. Dozens of fallen Corpse Divers were strewn about. Lady Gray must have led them to battle but there was no sight of her anywhere as we crossed from one section to another. Most of Skull-Faced Man’s army was made from deformed Autons that looked like they had been slain-hacked and revived from dungeons across the whole of the game. One Auton we ran into looked familiar. Similar in structure and size to the one we defeated on Rem, it was a shadow of what it had once been. Maybe we had just grown that much stronger. Cass and I cleared it out with ease.

  Making our way into a smaller corridor, we discovered a holo-map of the area and added it to our inventory. The map appeared in the bottom left hand side of my field of view and would disappear unless I summoned it to me via my interface. The map made moving forward easier than we had anticipated. It was as if Skull-Faced Man was drawing us to him. The basic layout of the orbital carrier was the same as a Titan, only the insides were more spread out. We crossed through a dozen empty hangars and an unused armoury. Following a second run in with an Auton we found ourselves in a giant library, filled with empty book shelves and tables. The orbital carrier was a battle station that could function as a city. Normally, they would come fully armed, automated, and with an artificial intelligence similar to Nel or Tel, that would attack any players who did not have access. This carrier seemed to be missing both an artificial intelligence and defences.