by Jeff Sproul
Chase's spider bot backed up farther into the cave, to give itself more distance to fire on the Golem soldiers. Even if it wanted to fire on the portal spider, it didn't have the damage to bring it down before they'd be overrun; so for now, Chase and Laura's constructed entities were working in tandem to ensure Riley and Carla made it out alive.
Riley reached the mouth of the cave first, while Carla still had a ways to go.
Chase's bot continued to fire at the nearest Golems, but Laura was down to just three clones. Carla was waving her arm as she ran, sending out freezing lotuses at the oncoming enemies, freezing them for a couple seconds at a time before they lurched forward, breaking free of the frost.
"Come on!" Riley called out. Carla was still twenty feet away, trudging through the sludge.
Another of Laura's duplicates dissolved into particles.
The portal spider hadn't attacked, but it had lumbered closer to pour more of the Golems out, which quickly made their way across the shorter distance of the sludge.
Another duplicate burst into particles.
There was only one left between Carla and the soldiers.
Carla was fifteen feet away.
The last duplicate died, leaving only Laura's core body now in the tunnel.
Riley was slinging freezing gems at the oncoming mass of enemies, hoping to slow them any way he could. But with each passing second, it was looking more and more hopeless.
Carla was only ten feet away from the cave entrance.
Her foot slipped.
She landed on her hands and knees in the sludge, giving it more surface contact to keep her in place.
The rest of them couldn't take a single step forward if they wanted to stay out of the sludge as well.
Chase's spider bot lumbered forward, firing point blank at the soldiers as it walked over Carla's fallen form.
"Get up! You have to get out of there!" Laura called. "We have to help her!" she said, looking to Chase and Riley.
Riley hadn't stopped slinging gems. Bit by bit his energy was lowering, but he was able to deal with the cost.
"I've got everything tied up in this bot!" Chase snapped as he was directing it to physically defend Carla as she struggled to pull herself up to her feet.
The mechanical Gatling bot burst into particles under the repeated punches from the Golem soldiers.
"Hurry!" Riley called as he was doing his best to target the Golems by throwing and remote-triggering the gems over their heads, so as to not hit Carla.
Carla had now switched to explosive lotuses as she couldn't risk the freezing ones, even if she was getting buffeted by some of the heat from her own detonations.
Instead of creating more blue gems, Riley created white ones. The soldiers were almost upon her.
He threw one to her, no longer needing the sling at this distance. "Crack them!" Riley called as Carla managed to catch it. She pushed forward as the sludge stuck to her boots.
The nearest two Golems swung at Carla.
She squeezed the white gem and was immediately encompassed in a white protective orb of light.
The shield pushed the Golems back, only for two others to slam their fists into it.
Riley threw another gem to Carla, and another. As one shield fell, Carla broke another gem and created another. It took four of them to get Carla out of the sludge. The moment she hit hard ground, she took off down the tunnel, with Chase, Laura and Riley right behind her.
Seconds later, Riley heard the puffs of his frost gems triggering behind him, which bought them precious seconds to get further away.
"I almost died back there!" Carla yelled from up ahead. "This was a bad idea!"
"I told you!" Riley shouted back. "Can we collapse this tunnel?"
"Not with us still in it!" Chase called out as he ran along with the others.
"Just keep running!" Laura spoke up as her arms pumped.
"Do you have any copies left?" Riley asked, wondering if Laura had any energy to make more. They were all about to use a little energy to run out of the tunnel.
"I could make a few if I had to," said Laura. "But then I'm tapped out. And we still have to run back to the base!"
The four of them rushed past the section where the tunnel forked. The soldiers emitted a growling hiss as they followed. But now that they were off the sludge, they wouldn't be able to move as fast.
Riley was at the back of the group. He turned his head to see how far behind they were.
His eyes widened before he even fully understood what was happening.
The Golems were leaping forward and melting into sludge which was constantly being pushed forward by more soldiers that were doing the same. The sludge was expanding quickly after them, with an army of soldiers bounding across it.
"They're catching up! Keep running!" Riley called as he turned ahead, pumping his arms faster. It wouldn't matter how fast he tried to run. He had a maximum run speed that he couldn't exceed without the use of items.
He was running a little low on energy now. In a normal boss fight, they would've been able to more efficiently use their damaging abilities and then consume some energy recovery items afterwards. They had to use almost everything they had just to get away, and now they were using even more to run back to base. They wouldn't have any time to recover their energy because any use of powers or energy would negate the effect of a recovery item.
Riley heard more sudden puffs behind him. He turned his head and saw his previously-laid frost traps at the mid-section start to go off. They froze the advancing soldiers for a couple seconds, completely halting their advance every time a gem exploded.
Riley's lips curled. Well, at least he'd done something right. He probably wouldn't be able to run away as fast if he had to take time to place frost gems in the walls.
"What's the plan when we get out of the tunnel?" Chase asked.
"There is no plan, we just keep running and hope we're faster than them!" said Laura.
Soon enough, the exit of the tunnel could be seen.
"The exit's up ahead!" Chase called. He still had one surveillance bot left, which was watching just inside the tunnel. It skittered out as they got closer.
The group rushed for the exit and finally made it out into the hazy crimson light of the burning sky. Even the chaotic biome of Death's Chasm was a welcome sight to what they were up against in the dark tunnel.
Carla turned around and even as Chase and Laura exited the tunnel, she created numerous red lotuses and sent them at the tunnel.
"Hey!" Riley yelled as he slipped out of the way of the oncoming lotuses.
Carla kept pumping lotuses into the tunnel. "Get going!" she said as she kept making them in small clusters.
The group kept running and a few seconds later, Carla turned after them, now bringing up the rear.
A few seconds later, the first lotuses detonated on impact with the oncoming horde of Golem soldiers. The tunnel rocked as all of the lotuses that were filling the tunnel detonated within mere moments of each other. The sheer amount of damage caused the tunnel to collapse, sending large chunks of rock to block the way.
Riley turned his head to see the destruction that Carla had caused. "Are you tapped out?" he asked, looking over to her.
"Just about. I've got enough energy to get back to base," she said as her arms pumped.
The four of them raced across numerous areas of Death's Chasm. No bosses had spawned in their path. The entire area was still eerily quiet, save for the natural rumblings of distant volcanoes.
Riley was sure that they were all thinking the same things, but nobody was forthcoming with words. They were all running with Chase's surveillance bot up ahead, making sure that the path was actually safe. They couldn't risk engaging in a fight at this point. They were all nearly tapped out. A poorly timed boss, or a high level paragon or hellion, might even bring the four of them to an end. But even that was a better alternative than letting Golem consume any one of them.
The group
made it all the way back to Outpost Blood before they stopped running. They headed inside through the illusory wall and went over to the portal. Due to their energy exertion, they were all breathing heavily.
"I thought today was supposed to be better than yesterday," Riley sighed as he stood in the teleporter.
Carla was the last one in. But Chase and Laura were already on either side of him.
"I'm sure this day has plenty of potential to get a lot worse," Laura said, before straightening up. "System, teleport all four of us to Crimson Alliance HQ."
The familiar hiss of the hellion system's voice came from some unknown source all around them.
"Teleportation in ten…nine…eight…"
"Maybe I should just go back to bed," Riley murmured as he shook his head. "This Golem thing is seriously out to get me…or us."
"Think we got much experience for those kills?" Chase asked, but didn't check his status screen just yet.
"Hopefully we got something," Laura replied, before the system counted down and sent them across in-game dimensions, all the way back to Crimson Alliance HQ.
Chapter 22: Safe Return
Riley and his three guild mates managed to return to HQ without any true losses. Death's Chasm had been a bust. Even if they'd gained a little experience in killing the Golem creatures, they still lost the amount of poryte it'd taken to go both ways, with no return on resources.
The four of them left the teleportation room and entered the main chamber of the HQ.
Chrono peeked out from behind a terminal, as he often seemed to do. "Back so soon? You haven't been gone all that long."
"There were no bosses anywhere to be found, but we did find Golem," Laura spoke up.
"Golem?" Chrono asked. "Out in Death's Chasm? Are you sure?"
"Yeah, we're positive. They all saw it too." Riley gestured to the others around him. "It had a portal and was trying to kill us when we found its lair."
"A portal?" Chrono asked as he reached up to hold his chin. "I wonder if it's a coincidence then?"
"What's a coincidence?" asked Laura.
Chrono looked at the four of them. "What color was the portal?"
"It was blue," said Carla.
Chase and Riley exchanged looks, as Riley's eyes widened. He then turned back to Chrono. "Chrono, when was the last time you saw Parviz?"
Chrono shook his head. "I haven't seen him in two days. He was supposed to be here midday yesterday. I figured something came up. He always goes and logs off at your Bunker."
"Are you saying that Golem killed him and took his powers?" Laura asked. "But that would mean Golem has been able to operate within our city!"
"Look, you all just fought Golem and made it out alive," said Chrono as he stepped to the side of the terminal. "Did the fight go well?"
"No, it was terrible," said Carla. "I almost died! And the portal was attached to this giant spider."
Chrono glanced over to Riley, who was rolling his eyes.
"So, the four of you combined had a tough time fighting Golem in one of its lairs. Was the lair undefended? Or well-defended?"
"There wasn't anything there but a portal and the sludge I told you about," said Riley.
"So it summoned reinforcements after your arrival?" Chrono questioned.
"That's right," said Riley.
"Hmm," Chrono mused as he crossed his arms and tapped his fingers on his hard carapace. "This is all useful information as to how Golem operates."
Laura then gave Chrono a play by play of what had happened out in Death's Chasm.
"I see," Chrono said intermittently as he was brought up to speed.
"Do you think Golem was farming those bosses? Does it do that?" Carla asked, looking between Chrono and the rest of the group.
"According to Sage, it's very likely," said Chrono. "Sage isn't online at the moment, but he popped in a little bit ago to see how my searches were going."
"Searches?" Chase asked.
Chrono nodded. "Yes, Sage advised me to look for possible signs of Golem infestation. So I've been systematically scanning the surrounding areas for leads. At most, I believe I've found stealthed clusters of those jellies Riley and Taurus have both fought."
"But no signs of where Golem is operating from?" Laura asked. "We just found it in a cave from another dimension here in Sigil, but this thing came from another game, and is apparently still there. So how easily is it able to reinforce itself from that Mage World game?"
"Sage said that Mage World is in an apocalyptic situation right now," said Chrono. "He checked their forums, but had to do a lot of searching. The posts about Golem are getting heavily downvoted so they're not seen. Apparently, this is a huge problem as it's diminishing the very real threat of Golem over in that game. Sage said he couldn't determine if it was something the moderators of the forum were doing, or if a group of players were doing it. It would stand to reason that if the players needed help, they'd try and lure more people into the game to help them. But why would they distort the facts on how bad it is?"
"I tried posting about it on our forums and I was quickly downvoted," said Riley. "At first, I thought it was just people who thought I wanted attention. But if Sage thinks that there's a group actively downvoting the posts, then there's definitely something going on."
"I just don't see how it helps anyone," said Chrono. "Golem is killing everything in sight. Both here, and in Mage World. I don't understand why more of an effort isn't being made to team up and defeat it. There's been a lot of pushback here in Sigil."
"What do you mean?" Laura asked. "Has Sage been able to speak to other alliances and guilds?"
"He's tried," said Chrono. "He's focused his efforts on guilds that are farther away, so that the ones nearby don't realize that we're in a weakened position. Most of the guilds are just dismissing the facts, while some said they'd be on the lookout. A few others have said that they've detected unknown signals as we have, but weren't able to reveal them before they disappeared."
"So we've potentially lost Parviz, allowing Golem to portal units between two points," said Riley. "And, it's keeping hidden until it wants to strike, like with me and my outpost. Has there been any word of outposts suddenly going dark anywhere?"
Chrono shrugged. "About as much as usual. None of ours, at least. It's hard to determine if Golem is the cause, or if it's just players or regular monsters. But there's been no sign of an active infestation. At least in regards to the outposts that I've been able to scan. So far, Golem is keeping a low profile. It must still be vulnerable."
"It wasn't too vulnerable earlier," Carla murmured. "But then again, we didn't know what we were dealing with until it was too late. I think we could've destroyed that portal if we'd been a bit quicker about it."
"We had to be cautious, though," said Chase. "We weren't familiar with fighting that thing, and that sludge was everywhere."
"Hmm," Riley murmured, as something was bugging him. "If Golem is able to seize our powers, I assume that it can only really use those powers in the same fashion that we do. I mean, I don't see any tattoos like our Sigils on any of the creatures, but if Golem is limited to the powers just as we are, then…how did it get to Death's Chasm?"
"What do you mean? It teleported there, probably," said Carla.
Riley shook his head. "It makes sense that Golem was able to go from Mage World to Sigil Online, but we're currently in the core dimension of Sigil Online. There's a bunch of smaller dimensions that I imagine require an extra step to get to. Even Sage speculated about this. So my question is, how did Golem get to one of our extra-dimension zones without being able to see it, like Parviz has to?"
"Maybe it took someone's already open portal when they weren't looking?" said Laura. "I suppose that's not too unusual. It could've been stealthed at the time."
"I suppose," Riley murmured, as he thought some more about it. "It's just a bit unusual, but then again, we don't really know how it all works. It might have some capability from Mage World that w
e don't know about."
"That's right," said Chrono. "That game has been around for a few years longer than Sigil. Who knows what else it can do."
"But it hasn't been using magic like the mages do," said Riley. "It's mostly creature-based. But, even so, for all we know, there could have been an interdimensional creature in Mage World."
"All we can do right now is try and find where Golem is hiding and wipe it out," said Chrono. "If Death's Chasm is a no-go right now, then you'll need to find safer places to hunt. We can't lose anyone to Golem."
"Death's Chasm was one of the best places to hunt," Laura sighed. "At least, as far as experience and loot are concerned. We're going to be taking quite the efficiency hit if we have to go somewhere else at our levels. We need to figure out how to get to some of those higher level areas that some people have mentioned on the forums, but information about them is scarce."
"We'd normally try a bunch of stuff and see what works out," said Chase. "But we've been busy with alliance stuff."
"This alliance might be one of the few things keeping all of us alive at this point," said Chrono. "I know that all of you were forced into the alliance, but realize, it might be your safest option. Especially if Golem starts to take hold of this game."
Riley, Laura, Carla and Chase were all silent as Chrono said this. Riley's gaze had diverted as he rubbed at his arm, thinking things over.
"Is there anything around the city that needs to be done?" asked Laura. "Or any hot spots out in the wild areas that we should check out?"
"I did have an outpost candidate, but within thirty minutes of noticing it, it was seized by another guild. It's already well-defended. They pumped a lot of resources into it. It's a bit far away, too. So we wouldn't have even had the time to try and take it, if you were all here."
"I can't believe that Parviz might actually be gone," Riley mused. "He could've portalled people over there. I wonder if he's going to remake his character. If he does, he's going to randomly start in an area that isn't in conflict. So he might start pretty far away from us."
"If he finds his way back, he'd be able to get some gear to work with," said Laura. "But even without that, he still has his three-hundred percent experience boost to his previous level. Maybe he thinks he'll be better off with another guild at this point."