by Adam Drake
Smoke appeared directly beneath me and I landed in his saddle. We charged away from the fight. My intended destination was hard to miss.
The Titan still slept, if that was what it was doing, with eyes closed. The fight a short distance away did not seem to bother it. We were gnats to the giant.
But I rode Smoke right at the great monster's closed beak having figured out Thorm's idea. Now it was all or nothing.
To my left a half-dozen riders broke from the murky tree line and rushed at me. It was apparent they had no clue what the massive hill sitting in the clearing really was.
Good.
I fired a volley of shots at the approaching riders but none found a target.
One rider, a fire mage, swirled his hands in front of him. A red light glowed between them, lighting up his face.
Okay, I thought. This could be bad.
The mage then pushed his hands forward and a large ball of fire shot from his palms. The molten orb of instant death was quick as an arrow. I pulled Smoke's reigns hard to one side as the fireball zipped past us. The heat it radiated was so intense it singed my avatar's eyebrows.
I looked where it was flying and smiled. Bingo.
The fireball smashed against the Titan's chin with a bright explosion. The light it emitted temporarily lit up the marshy clearing, revealing the detail's of the Titan's form.
Giant eyes opened and looked at the approaching riders.
Oh, boy, I thought. Still, I kept Smoke pointed directed at the colossal beast.
Wally's Womp lifted its huge head from the ground, apparently unhurt by the fireball.
Behind I heard shouts of shock and terror as my pursuers realized what they were running toward.
The Titan was annoyed now, and there would be veritable hell to pay. It opened its mouth and let out a deafening cry. The sound was like an avalanche of rock which shook the ground and caused nearby trees to crack or fall over.
And still I charged right at the thing.
Come on, come on.
An arrow flew by me and I chanced a look back. Amazingly, several riders where suicidal enough to keep up the chase, regardless of the titan. No doubt they were power-levelers who scoffed at the threat of yet another re-roll. They were uber. They were leet.
They were dead.
The Titan appeared to tense for a moment, then its eyes changed color to a deep red. The next instant, huge beams of crimson light shot from its eyes.
Fortunately for me, the vast monster had it out for Mister Fireball instead of the little tiny shadow approaching its feet.
The light beams raked across the muddy clearing and fell over several riders like spotlights.
The Titan blinked, and the beams stopped.
All the riders caught within the beams had been instantly incinerated. Not even the loot they should have dropped existed. Those, too, had been destroyed.
I was directly beneath the Titan's head, but it was too high above for this crazy idea to work. It needed to be closer.
Pulling Smoke to a full stop, I summoned a magma arrow. Then I notched it in my bow.
This was, without a doubt, one of the dumbest things I would ever do in this game. And I'd done plenty before, trust me.
I shot the magma arrow at the Titan.
My aim was true, not that missing something so huge was hard. The arrow hit the chin of the Titan and started to burn its way through.
The Titan grunted. Not really in pain, but more of a 'huh?' type equivalent. It tilted its head downward to regard me.
Having this gargantuan beast lock you in its death gaze could best be described as 'bowel liquefying'.
It roared and both Smoke and I shook beneath the deafening sound.
Then the Titan lowered its head, opening its mouth wider.
There was no time to contemplate the stupidity of my situation. Instead, I pulled myself up to stand on Smoke's saddle.
As the open mouth of the Titan descended upon me like a falling mountain, I did the second dumbest thing I'd ever do in this game.
Using a foot to push off Smoke's head, and invoking my Leap ability to its fullest extent, I leapt up to the open mouth of the Titan.
With both hands, I snagged onto the edge of the creature's lower beak. It was like clinging to castle battlements. I pulled myself up and over the line of the beak and slide up against a huge wet wall. The tongue.
But I only had an instant to appreciate where I was when I felt the Titan closing its beak. The roof of its mouth, like a vast cave ceiling, fell downwards, ready to crush me to a pulp.
Use Phase Ability.
For the briefest of moments, I thought that was the end, smashed to nothing. But I'd kicked my phase in at the right second. This was the trick Thorm mentioned.
My phantom form was absorbed into the material which comprised the Titan's mouth. I could not see, so I rolled to my left and slipped out onto the beast's tongue. Thankfully there is no phasing downward. This prevents characters from vanishing into the ground when corporeal.
Oddly, I could see details thanks to a luminous yellow fungus which lined the contours of the inner mouth. My phase timed out, and I was whole again.
The travel gate was a short distance away, embedded against the back of the creature's throat. I stumbled around, trying to keep my balance. Wally's Womp was on the move.
A system message appeared.
Your mount has been killed by Wally's Womp.
Crap, I thought. There hadn't been time to dismiss Smoke. Now his summoning timer was set to hours instead of minutes.
The mouth suddenly opened and a huge intake of breath threatened to suck me down the throat. It was going to roar again, and I didn't think I could survive the outgoing blast.
Like a drunk on a sheet of ice I ran along the wet tongue.
When I reached the back of the mouth, the throat yawned before me like a mine shaft. My eyes were on the silvery surface of the circular gate.
Just as I jumped the Titan roared.
There was a moment of panic as I felt a horrific rush of air push me upwards.
Then I tumbled through the gate.
CHAPTER TWELVE
My involuntary upward movement caused me to hit the top of the gate as I passed through. Yet, as I crossed the terminus, I still had the where-with-all to activate my invisibility.
The hot wet air of the Titan's mouth instantly changed to frigid cold.
As I flew through the gate, I ducked into a roll, but my landing was far from perfect. The ground was hard, and I bounced to a stop.
Survival instincts kicked in and I quickly took in my immediate surroundings.
I was in a winter wonderland.
Huge pine trees, cloaked in snow, crowded around the travel gate platform as if waiting to inspect new arrivals.
Dusk was approaching as indicated by the dark orange hue of the sky which fought to be seen through the trees.
A wide path led away from the gate's platform and curved away to vanish into the darkening forest. The snow which covered the path had been churned up and trampled by many horses. Ogden and his group.
I froze. Someone else was here.
My eyes locked onto a figure which stood at the base of the platform steps. In the gloom it took a moment for my avatar's eyes to adjust. But on closer inspection I knew who it was.
No, not who. What.
It was a clockwork robot.
The thing had been standing guard, facing away from the gate when I passed through. Hearing my entrance it turned around. But since I was invisible, there was nothing to see.
It was looking, trying to figure out what had just happened. I envisioned gears turning within its head, if that's where it did its thinking.
But it hadn't detected me.
It was as tall as a normal man and made of blocks, giving it the appearance of a toy.
Should I attack it?
Then I noticed one of its arms extended further out than the other. At the end of its shorter arm was
a simple claw-like hand. But the extended one ended in a long thin rod. At the end of the rod was embedded a crystal. This crystal crackled with electricity, momentarily brightening the features of the clockwork guard.
A lightning wand.
Shadows, for whatever reason, are very susceptible to electrical damage. One full shot from that wand would result in an instant trip to the newbie-zone for me.
An ignominious end. Escape from the mouth of a Titan only to be killed by a robot with a glorified cattle-prod.
The robot did not move, just waited and seemed to stare at the gate with black square eyes.
A glance at my shrinking invisibility timer increased my nervousness. I had only seconds left and it would switch off. If I was lucky, I could activate my shadow ability when that happened. Although not perfect, it should mask my presence in the growing darkness.
But what if this robot saw the change?
I calmly brought out my sword and tensed. If I didn't move, then maybe it wouldn't react. But I had to be ready.
Then, as if reaching some calculation, the robot lowered its lightning wand arm and turned around, waddling on blocky legs. Certain there was nothing untoward, the thing put its back to me. A plume of steam shot out from a nozzle on the side of its square head.
My invisibility timed out, and I switched to shadow without a hitch.
Slowly, I eased off the platform, careful not to make any noise in the snow (Shadows have a +50% silent walking ability) and slinked into the trees.
A short distance away I rested behind a large pine, while keeping the travel gate, and its automaton guardian, in view.
My heart still pounded hard. The last few minutes had been intense. It's not every day you purposely throw yourself into the maw of a Titan and survive.
But I made it. This was Ogden Trite's secret domain. Somewhere past these trees was his guildhall, and I knew he would be there. My chance to kill him had presented itself. Yet, I was alone now, which had not been planned for.
All this running and being chased and having friends sacrifice themselves had got me this far. There was only a little more ways go.
I'd finish this myself as long as I didn't blow it.
I decided following the snow-covered path was the best direction to go. Sticking to the trees, I moved on and away from the travel gate until it vanished from view.
My senses were all fired up. Other than the clockwork guard there was little indication of other security measures in place. Ogden must have felt the Titan was more than enough.
I would prove him wrong.
Soon the pathway angled downward, following the slope of a hill into a little valley. I paused at the tree-line and stared.
At the base of the valley, swathed by snow capped forests, was a castle. It appeared to glow in the growing darkness. I realized that the illuminating effect was moonlight reflecting off of its blue-white surface.
An ice fortress.
Its sprawling complex of buildings spread out in all directions and was encompassed by high walls. Towers and arrow slits lined its vast battlements. Occasionally, I would see a guard walk along them, and on closer inspection I could see that each one was a clockwork guard, like the one at the gate.
The path led to a yawning chasm which served as a moat. Across this chasm was the main gate entrance, its massive drawbridge pulled up and closed.
Won't be getting in that way, I thought.
I scanned the huge walls for another possible way in.
A chat request flashed in the corner of my vision. I remembered I'd removed the 'Mute All Players' option and now this Bishop the Red idiot had started pestering me again.
But it was Mudhoof.
Blinking in surprise, I withdrew behind a canopy of pine branches. After a quick glance around, I accepted the chat.
Mudhoof's grinning visage filled the chat window before me. “Did ya get my stuff?” he said with a laugh.
“Muddie!” I said, relieved to see him. “What happened? I tried to call you but you didn't answer. I was worried.”
Mudhoof chuckled. “No worries at all, Vee. It was no big deal. To be honest, right after I died my mom called me away for dinner. I had to go or I would have been in serious trouble.”
I laughed. “Okay, that explains it. A justifiable 'Away From Game' reason.”
“I could face hordes of orcs or bounty hunters without breaking a sweat, but if I ever got my mom mad, geez. Nothing matches the fear that woman can invoke!”
“Sorry about getting you killed,” I said. “Again.”
“No apology necessary,” he said. “We were in a no-win situation and I just improvised. Besides, it was mildly cathartic smashing into you and sending you flying.”
“Sorry you lost all your stuff. I'll pay you back,” I said.
He shrugged nonchalantly. “I got gear stored away for just such an occasion. Which means I have a lot of gear stored. I'll level this new character up in no time.” He gave me a curious look. “So, I'm happy to see my gamble paid off. You didn't die. Gimme the lowdown.”
So I did, albeit an abbreviated version.
As I spoke a pair of clockwork guards march past along the path. Neither gave any indication I'd been detected. How many others were out here, maybe skulking through the forest?
“Wow, so you're in the FILTERED's lair, huh?” Mudhoof said when I finished. “Wish I could be there with you, Vee. Sounds like it will be a tough nut to crack.”
“Hey, you are the only reason I am here right now and not killing rabbits in the newbie-zone.”
“Any word from Thorm?”
“Not yet, but I'll shoot him a chat right now. I thought it best to let him deal with his combat situation first without me nattering in his ear.”
“Well, we should both get back at it,” he said.
It was then I saw what was in his background. “You're in a tavern?”
Mudhoof leaned back so I could see more. A small generic tavern with a lone barkeep rubbing the counter with a cloth. “Yup, living the high life.” He held up a frothy mug and took a sip. “I recently upgraded my simulation suit to enable taste for the first time. Been trying out all the different ales that I can.”
Again, he made me laugh. Then I cringed, fearing I would have been heard.
“Okay, well, enjoy the ale. You've earned it.”
“Give 'em hell, Vee!” Mudhoof said, and signed off.
I took a moment to change hiding spots, then pinged Thorm.
He answered immediately. His face was hunched over and rocking back and forth. At the bottom of the screen could be seen the top of Snowflake's fury head bobbing in and out of frame.
“Miss Valesh!” The Holy Knight declared with a smile. “You're alive!”
“Yeah, I made it through the travel gate. I'm in Ogden's little domain, and currently undetected.” Along the edges of the chat's view-window I could see the yellow sand of a desert shoot by.
“Where are you? What happened?”
“I'm several gates away, now,” he said. “Leading my new friends on another wild goose chase.” He leaned a little to one side. Behind him about a hundred paces away were two riders in hot pursuit. One wore a bright white cloak which flapped about in the wind.
“You got to admire their persistence,” I said, and meant it. “But why chase you? It's me they want.”
Thorm laughed into the wind, his blond mustache whipping about. “That Titan made it clear hanging around would not be tolerated. Besides, once you vanished in the thing's mouth I think they must have thought you dead. So, I was the closest target to take out their aggressions on.”
“Sorry to get you into this mess, Thorm.” I seemed to spend a lot of time apologizing to my friends because of my own problems.
“Apology not accepted,” Thorm said with a smile. “This is all part of the game, and I will be the first to admit this is really fun.” He glanced behind him briefly, and said. “But I must go, Miss Valesh. I'm going to see how far I can lead t
hem before they lose interest or have to stop for a bathroom break. Good luck with Ogden!” And with that he signed off.
It felt good to know he was okay, and even better that neither of my friends held any animosity toward me for their predicament.
I moved through the trees until I looked down upon the huge ice complex.