by Shawn Kass
From somewhere behind her, Rue came running up and said, “Excuse me, Ma’am. The paladin and mages said that they have finished with their healings and will be ready to go in two minutes.”
“Thank you, Rue. Please finish checking the monsters for any loot they may have dropped.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” began Rue. Then after a moment of hesitation, she added, “About that. I wanted to ask if it was safe to approach the familiar. It seems to be eating some of the flesh from the monsters, and I didn’t want it to mistake my actions.”
Smirking, Sam said, “You should be fine. I just wouldn’t recommend trying to take whatever he is eating out of his mouth.”
“O…okay,” replied Rue nervously before she headed off to continue collecting what she could from the remaining bodies littered about the corridor.
“You know you could have just called off your pet,” Kat suggested.
Wincing as he remembered how Tezukayoshi had used the barb on his tail, Sam admitted, “No, I don’t think so. First, he doesn’t always listen to me, and second, he really doesn’t like it when people refer to him as a pet.”
Shaking her head, Kat clearly wanted to say more, but she let it go and asked, “You think you’ll be ready in two minutes?”
Nodding, Sam said, “I should be. I just need to maybe grab a bite to eat and replenish my magic before we can head out.”
“Okay, I need to talk to a few others, so we’ll see you down at the door.”
Agreeing, Sam stepped away and headed back to where Anna was and asked, “Do we have any more food?”
“Yes. I have another dinner and a few packages of dried fruit and rations. Are you hungry already?”
“Honestly, no. I feel like I should be after that last fight, but I’m not. Maybe I leveled up again?”
Gesturing with her palms up, Anna said, “I have to admit, I still don’t know what all of that means. I know you explained it, and Madame Esmerelda seemed to get it, but I have no idea. What I can say is that you are definitely stronger now than when I first met you. I don’t know how, but you are.”
“Yeah,” agreed Sam. “But will it be enough to get me home?”
Not having an answer for him, Anna simply dug out one of the packages of dried fruit and passed it to him.
Offering her a smile as he masked his sadness he felt when he thought about how much he missed Quinn back in the real world, he said, “Thanks, I’ll hold on to this for later.”
Trotting up next to them, Tezukayoshi dropped a long bone and a tentacle at Sam’s feet before he said, ‘I saved these for you.’
Understanding that he was lucky the lizard hadn’t just eaten them both, Sam said, “Excellent, thank you.” As he picked them up, he took a second to study them. Taking only a couple seconds, Sam quickly found the description of the creatures which they had come from written on the side of the items as he had expected.
Lv: 15, Squab Soldier, wrap, strangle Lv: 18, Croc-man, stealth, speed+
“What are they? Is that from the monsters?” asked Anna.
“Yeah,” confirmed Sam. “We thought we might as well
collect a few pieces of these things and see if Kip can make
something for us when we get back to town.”
Sticking her tongue out in a mock gesture of revulsion
while she mimed gagging herself, Anna said, “That is gross. I’m
glad I’m the one carrying the food.”
“It’s not like it’s all just rolling around in there loosely
rubbing against everything,” said Sam defensively.
“Doesn’t matter,” said Anna as she took the package of
dried fruit back from Sam. “It’s the principle of the thing. I
don’t want that gross stuff in the same bag as our food.” Ready to give a rebuttal, Sam was cut off by the sound
of Kat’s voice announcing, “Okay, folks, time’s up. We need to
keep moving if we’re going to make it to the boss’s room in
time. Let’s get into formation at the next door.”
Turning back so that he could finish his thought, he
found Anna already walking away saying, “Don’t worry. I’ll keep
the food, and you can carry the bag full of nasty monster parts.” From the ground next to him, Tezukayoshi said, ‘She
doesn’t hear me talking about the horrible taste of things in her
mother’s shop.’
“That’s because she can’t hear you at all,” responded
Sam. When Tezukayoshi twisted his head up to glare at him for
his glibness, Sam defused the situation by adding, “Come on,
let’s see what this place is serving up in the next room.” Once they had rejoined the others, Kat made her
announcement. “If we are back on track, then the next room
should hold a scorpion creature made of sand, called a
scorpiand. If you are a front line fighter, you need to stay back.
We have found that the scorpiand is completely immune to
physical attacks. The best way to beat it is to use water magic,
and we still have three mages who are capable of that.” “So what do you want the rest of us to do?” asked one
of the knights.
Answering seriously, Kat said, “Just take a position
around the wall and stay out of its grasp. If it makes a move
towards you, run.”
There was some grumbling again as the fighters argued
with the idea of being held back from what they saw as their duty to fight, but after a stern look from Mace, they quieted down and accepted their role. None of them were willing to
openly disagree with the large warrior.
After a slight, almost imperceptible, nod to Mace for
keeping his people in line, Kat said, “Okay then. Follow me.” Sam already had his sword out and was questioning
whether or not fire magic could be used to turn the sand
creature into glass when he entered the room. In his mind, he
figured that Kat’s warning was great, but he also knew that the
Tower had already made things more difficult for them each
step of the way, so he wanted to be prepared for anything.
What he found, however, was something none of them
expected.
Inside, they found that there were no croc-men, squabs,
or the scorpiand waiting to attack them. In fact, the room,
while slightly smaller than the last one, had no monsters at all.
Instead, it looked relatively safe like a small oasis complete with
a three-foot wide square-shaped pool of crystal clear water
centered against the far wall. Just above the pool, they saw the
source of the fresh water as it was constantly being supplied
through a small rectangular opening in the wall just a few feet
off the floor. Aside from that, the rest of the room was
completely clear except for a pair of buckets which sat near the
edge of the water, ready for use.
“Where is it?” asked the young mage.
“I don’t know,” answered Kat. “But I don’t think it will
come in this room. Remember, the scorpiand can’t stand
water. There’s no reason why the Tower would give us an edge
like this.”
“So what about a water monster? You think something
is going to pop up at us once we get a little closer?” asked one
of the knights.
“Maybe, maybe not.” began Kat. “This room is
completely different now.”
“It feels safe,” offered Anna.
Not taking her eyes off her surroundings, Kat growled,
“You’re telling me it feels safe in here? There isn’t even a door
for us to continue. Get this straight if you want to keep
breathing. Nothing is safe in the Tower, no matter how it
looks.”
“Okay,” responded Anna demurely as she slunk back
towards the rear of the group.
Grunting, the barbarian Torix said, “Look up,” and drew
everyone’s attention to the ceiling which was strangely just a
few feet above his head unlike the rest of the Tower’s rooms so
far.
“Holy…,” began Rue. “What’s that?”
“Holes,” answered Kat. “They’re holes everywhere. The
floor has them, too.” Carefully placing her booted foot
between two of them, she said, “They look like they’re about a
foot apart in every direction.”
“What are they for?” asked one of the archers who
already had an arrow nocked and was aiming towards the
closest hole.
“I have no idea. We’ve never seen a room like this.” “Well, I doubt there are going to be any monsters
coming through the holes,” said the archer as he relaxed his
bow. “They look like they’re too small for even an arrow to
pass through.”
Ignoring the images which ran through his mind from a
hundred late nights of watching stupid one-star horror movies
which showed people being devoured by everything from
Egyptian beetles to mutant fire ants, Sam offered the least of
his scary concerns to the group. “What if, instead of monsters,
the Tower simply tries to drown us? It would be pretty easy to
fill this room with water.”
Sarcastically, Hugo from the Reckoners turned to Sam
and said, “Thanks, now I have visions of yet another way to die
running through my head.”
“Hey, what’s the hold up?” asked Mace from outside the
room. He had apparently been trying to get in through the door but had to stop when people refused to advance into the room.
“Would some of you mind stepping aside so I can get in?” “Oh, sorry,” said Sherri in the back. “We were just trying
to figure things out in here.” Then, as if they were all holding
hands, the people closest to the door moved out of the big
guy’s way but managed to stay tightly packed to each other as
they did so. Clearly, none of them wanted to step on too many
of the holes beneath their feet, but in the process, several of
them stepped on each other’s toes instead.
As they grumbled over their minor injuries, and Mace
eased his way through the crowd to stand near Kat, everyone’s
attention was directed elsewhere. No one noticed as the door
they had come through began to slide shut. In fact, it was
nearly closed all the way before Sherri called out, “Guys, the
door’s closing,” and shoved her wooden mage staff in the
opening.
Reaching out, Hugo took hold of her staff just as the
door pinched it between itself and the frame and tried to use
the staff as a lever to pry the door back open. Instead, the door
seemed to completely ignore his straining muscles and snapped
the end of the staff off as it shut all the way and sealed them
inside.
Aghast, Sherri accepted what remained of her staff from
Hugo and said, “Well, that’s not going to help things.” Then
seeing Hugo’s expression, she quickly added, “I’m sorry, Hugo.
It’s not your fault. Clearly this old stick wasn’t as durable as it
used to be.”
“I don’t think it had anything to do with its durability,”
offered Sam. “I’m betting that this room was designed to lock
us in, no matter what. We should just be happy no one stuck
their hand there to try to stop it.”
Stepping up to him, Kat asked, “What do you mean
‘designed’? How could you know that?”
Unwilling to say as much as he knew from other games,
Sam said, “You guys all know I’m new to the town, but I’ve
heard of places like this in my travels. There are dungeons out there where people have designed traps to test adventurers’
skills and intelligence.”
“That sounds cruel,” said Anna with a shiver. “It is, but to the true explorers, it’s just another obstacle
to overcome, like killing monsters.”
“So you’re saying that this is some kind of test?” asked
Kat.
“I think so,” said Sam with a nod.
Admitting a low growl from deep in his chest, Mace
admitted, “I don’t like tests.”
“No one does, big guy, but it looks like we’re going to be
trapped in here until we can figure this one out.”
“So how do we pass the test?” asked Kat.
“I don’t know,” said Sam as he began scan the area
more intently with his eyes. “All of these places are different,
but they usually have a secret switch or a puzzle of some sort
for us to figure out.”
Shaking her head at the situation, Kat did her best to
take control of things and said, “Okay, listen up. Time is
running short for Raven, and we need to figure this out. I want
everyone to start looking around to see if there is anything
different from the previous rooms. If you come across a hidden
switch or a loose stone on the wall, don’t push it, just let us
know.”
Understanding the order, most of the people began to
stare at the closest wall searching for some slight difference in
the pattern of the stones, while Sam and his group along with
Kat and the rest of the Reckoners began to spread out.
Motioning for Anna and Tezukayoshi to follow him, Sam crossed
the floor to the far side and began looking over the pool of
water.
“What are you thinking, Sam?” asked Anna. “Well, the Tower wouldn’t have just put this water here
if it didn’t mean something, so I’m betting we have to use it
somehow. My first thought was that we might have to dive in
and swim to the next room, but I can’t see anything, and I have no idea if the water is even safe. I mean, it could be poisonous
or acidic for all we know.”
Stepping forward, Tezukayoshi voluntarily began lapping
at the clear liquid for a second and then announced, ‘It’s just
water.’
“Okay, so I guess it’s safe,” said Sam.
“You do remember that he eats poisonous mushrooms,
don’t you?” asked Anna.
“Yeah, but it’s good,” said Sam, trusting his familiar.
Then as a demonstration, he said, “Watch,” and stuck his hand
in the pool to scoop out some water. After slurping it up, he
smiled and said, “See, it’s safe.”
“So are you planning to go for a swim?” asked Anna. “I will if I have to, but let’s keep checking. You look
around here. I’m going to look over those buckets.” After a nod, Anna began examining the opening where
the water was coming from, and Sam stepped over to where
the buckets were, leaving Tezukayoshi to continue drinking the
water.
The first thing he noticed was the floor beneath the
buckets wasn’t covered in holes like the rest of the area, and
that rather than being carved out like the rest of the Tower’s
floors, it appeared to be made of a single flat slab. Looking
closely, he saw a small groove all the way around it and
wondered if once they completed the test which was keeping
them in the room, the slab would lift up and allow them to exit.
If that were the case, he wondered if it would be possible to pry
it open manually. However, after seeing what happened to
Sherri’s mage staff, he wasn’t willing to risk his sword breaking
in the process. Setting those thoughts aside for a moment, Sam
knelt down and examined the buckets.
The buckets themselves didn’t seem all that special.
Both of them were made of simple wood, and each was tapered
down towards its base. They had metal handles that looked
easy to use and were for all intents and purposes identical in
every way except their size. At first Sam thought that the smaller one was half that of the big one, but when he knelt down and looked more closely, he saw written in the grains of the wood:
Lv: 1 bucket, max capacity 3 gallons Lv: 2 bucket, max capacity 5 gallons “Interesting,” commented Sam to himself as something in his memories tickled at the back of his brain.
Breaking his concentration before the thought could fully take form, Anna said, “Hey, come take a look. There’s something written over here.”
Abandoning the buckets and slab, Sam stood up and walked over to where Anna stood to find Tezukayoshi clinging to the wall next to an engraved inscription.
Trapped within this silent tomb You must use what’s in the room Place a bucket on the scale But be careful not to fail The shy wear a bloody crown But excess will pin you down The only way to the door Is to use exactly four
“What do you think it means?” asked Anna when she saw that his eyes had stopped moving.
“It’s a riddle.”
“Did you guys find something?” asked Kat as she approached with the rest of the Reckoners in tow.
“Yeah. It looks like we have to solve this riddle somehow,” answered Sam.
Taking a second to read it over, Sherri asked, “What does it mean?”
“It means we have to use those buckets to measure out the water,” said Kat.
Seeing them grouped together at the far end of the room, the rest of the people from the various clans abandoned their analysis of the walls near the door and headed over to listen in on the plan.