Depths of Camlan

by A. T. Gilbert

  “I’ll take it.”

  Money changes hands again and I save the bow in my bag. As soon as I hit Level 22 it’s coming out. I can’t forget.

  “Hey, do you have armor too?”

  With the little funds I have left, I find myself debating between a navy blue, woolen cowl that bumps my intelligence and a sturdier pair of boots. Either could help, but I decide I need the stats more. We make the trade, and I equip my new cowl, admiring my stat increase.

  Name: Woolen Cowl

  Level: 18

  Description: +1 Dexterity, +1 Stamina, +4 Intelligence

  Yep. That will do nicely. I’m thrilled this small town merchant has the goods for me to choose from and I feel much more prepared than I expected. As I am exiting Clarence’s Fine Goods I realize I missed a flurry of private messages.

  TexBadass has invited you to a group. Do you accept?

  I accept with a sigh.

  TexBadass: Y’all ready? Let’s git.

  Erinocalypse: Could you just be a little bit patient and recognize that you are not the boss here?

  TexBadass: I’m just tryin to keep us on track. Someone’s got to be in charge.

  Callidus: I need another minute, please.

  Balderdash13: Let’s all just meet in the square when we’re ready

  TexBadass: Fine. Y’all hurry up. I’m ready to roll.

  I step out into the town square where TexBadass and Erinocalypse are both standing, waiting. I would have liked to investigate options for training, but I just spent my last gold on this woolen cowl. My current levels will have to do.

  “Finally,” TexBadass says when he spots me approaching. “Can we go already?”

  I decide it’s best not to answer him, and instead try to make conversation with Erinocalypse.

  “Did you learn some cool new spells?”

  With her arms crossed over her chest, she turns to me, and pauses a moment as though debating whether or not to even answer.

  “Yes.”

  She turns away to watch for the others.

  Well. Oh for two, I guess. Hopefully the other players don’t have reason to hate me, or this is going to be a long day.

  Tex, Erin, and I stand in silence, watching the NPCs bustle around us, running their errands or whatever tasks they are coded to do. It will never stop being incredible to me how detailed and elaborate this game is. I have no idea how much time and effort went into developing it, but it must have been substantial. No wonder the designers want to contain the corrupted code as quickly as possible.

  Chapter Six

  Thinking about the developers reminds me that Sung Cho is supposed to be available to us as we play. I shoot off a message to her.

  SirAsh3r: I don’t know if you saw, but the mayor wasn’t able to mark our maps for us. Is that normal?

  SCho: No. We’ve looked in a little deeper and believe that to be an effect of the corrupted code. He should have been able to give you the dungeon’s exact location as with any other quest

  SirAsh3r: Do you know if the location has moved?

  SCho: We don’t know yet. That information has been hidden and encrypted. We’re working on uncovering it, but you may find out before we do.

  Well … that’s interesting. Whatever awareness that seed of code has, it’s already playing defense.

  While I messaged Cho, Callidus, SteelFeather and Balderdash13 approached our circle in the courtyard. I rejoin the conversation in time to hear Balderdash13 describe this smash move she was trained in. It seems like everyone is pleased with how prepared they are for this dungeon crawl. It concerns me a little that I’m the only one that thought to stock up on health potions. But then maybe I’m the only one who is prepared to take on this quest alone. It might be nice to have the help, but I don’t really need it.

  “Let’s go,” Erinocalypse says, starting off toward the west side of town. “We have a long walk ahead of us.”

  TexBadass jogs to catch up to her, so they are walking shoulder to shoulder, each trying to stay in the lead, but pretending they aren’t. I hang back, watching. Watching the interactions between SteelFeather and Balderdash13. Watching the way Callidus looks up to TexBadass—I can’t image that sensitive kid pulling off the older man’s arrogant swagger. Watching Erinocalypse and TexBadass vie for position. I’m content just hanging back. Watching. Staying out of it.

  Staying removed from the group puts me in a better position if I do need to break away from them.

  On our hike to the coast, we are mostly able to stay on roads. Another small argument between Erinocalypse and TexBadass breaks out, when they debate when is the best time to leave the road. Is it faster to cut across open land and risk getting delayed by monsters and enemies? Or is it faster to stay on the circuitous road and avoid obstacles? I don’t think any of us want to waste time on wolves or boars, and we still don’t even know where the dungeon is, so Erin and the road faction win.

  The easy cobblestone road takes us through farm land and a small copse of trees before transitioning to a narrower dirt path as we get closer to the edge of Camlan. Periodically I check my map, but the road we’re taking leads us almost directly west, ending at the southernmost point of the blue stripe that indicates the general area of the dungeon.

  With others leading the way, and nothing to do but walk, I let my mind wander, appreciating the smell of the sea, the thick clouds, the waves of meadow grass that make up the virtual world around us. In the distance a bit north of us, the towers of a castle are visible over the trees and I’m reminded how big this world is. I can’t remember the last time I took a hike in real life. But does it really matter with a virtual experience as detailed as this?

  We seem to be approaching a cliff; the grass just ends and it’s as though we’ve reached the edge of the world. All I see is ocean and sky until the horizon. As I am bringing up the rear of the group, the other five reach a bottleneck in front of me and need to switch to a single file line to go down the steps carved into the edge of the cliff. There’s a brief jostle but Erinocalypse allows TexBadass to descend ahead of her.

  He’ll be the first one to fall if there’s a misstep.

  When it’s my turn to start down the stairs, I wish I still had some Scaling Weed with me. Just a mouthful of that magic plant would make me feel safer climbing down. Each step is not quite deep enough for a whole foot, so I need to climb down sideways. The steps are tall enough and steep enough that I find myself clinging to the stairs above me as I descend.

  “No no no no!”

  Not more than a dozen steps below me, I hear SteelFeather cry out as he slips, loses his grip on the steep rock and falls into Balderdash13 below.

  I freeze, grabbing on to the jagged edge. Below me Balderdash13 falls in turn, her feet slipping from under her and she barrels into Callidus, then Erinocalypse and finally TexBadass. The five bounce and tumble down the final twelve or fifteen steps, landing in a groaning pile in the sand.

  I wait a moment before I continue my own descent. Was it luck that I was above the falling player, rather than below? Or was it some kind of brilliant subconscious strategy that kept me last and out of harm’s way? This is exactly why I prefer to work alone. This kind of mistake drags everyone else down. If I’m going to fail, I want it to be on my own fault and not because I mistakenly trusted someone else.

  I wonder if the time will come that I will need to actively distance myself from the rest of the group. For now I’m stuck with them, though.

  I reach the foot of the stairs and the damp sand. While TexBadass is busily going from player to player, healing bruises and restoring health points, I catch SteelFeather’s eye.

  “Don’t start,” he warns with a self-deprecating smile. It’s good to know he can have a sense of humor about this.

  I look past him, and what I see catches my breath. The entire beach—water to rock cliff—is obscured by a dense fog. It’s as though a gray wall surrounds us, but with the haze dissipating into the gray blue sky above I c
an’t even tell how high it is.

  “Um,” I begin, pointing up the beach north of us. I don’t know what to say.

  One by one they turn to look at where I’m pointing. Tendrils of mist reach Erinocalypse’s feet as she turns to take in the view.

  “I think this means we’re in the right place,” Callidus whispers.

  Chapter Seven

  The fog rolling in completely obscures our vision. I can smell the salt water of the ocean, but can’t see it even though we must be close.

  “Erinocalypse, you don’t have a spell that could dissipate this, do you?” I’m grasping.

  She shakes her head. “I have a fire bolt and a wind spell, but the light will just reflect off the tiny water particles. We won’t get additional visibility.”

  “Could the wind spell get things moving?”

  Erinocalypse bites her lip, thinking. “Maybe. Okay, give me room. Let me try.” She holds both her hands out in front of her, directing the magic that will cast this spell. I stand close enough to her that I can feel a slight breeze coming off of her, but it’s not powerful enough to actually move the fog. The tendrils of mist in the six feet or so in front of her swirl around wildly as the wind pushes through, but ultimately resettle exactly as before.

  SteelFeather equips his shield and sword. “All right then. My turn.” He squares his shoulders and takes tentative steps into the fog. When he’s a mere fifteen feet away from us, our view of him begins to fade. Not one of the rest of us move. We wait and we listen.

  I hear a rough grunt from the abyss, followed by a series of heavy thunks and crunching noises. SteelFeather must have gotten hit at least once more—his cry of pain makes Balderdash13 start forward.

  Erinocalypse grabs her arm, holding her back. “You can’t find him. You don’t know what you’re walking into. We can’t lose you both.”

  She doesn’t have time to argue. SteelFeather limps back to us out of the fog. As soon as she notices, Balderdash13 casts her small healing spell on him, with TexBadass backing her up, casting a more powerful spell and restoring his health completely.

  “Holy hell. Giant crabs,” the tank gasps. “I’m talking giant. Four or five feet in diameter, I think. And I didn’t see it until it was, like, right on top of me because of the fog.”

  “Damn,” TexBadass says under his breath, looking intently into the fog. “Make sure you rest, son. You’ve got to be good before we move forward.”

  “I can’t tank right if I can’t see what’s in front of us,” SteelFeather continues.

  “Of course not,” Erinocalypse agrees. “We just have to go more slowly. Be more careful.”

  “The best thing we can do here is use the terrain,” I say. “We’ve got this long rock cliff on one side and if we stick close to it, that at least limits attacks from that direction.”

  They all nod in agreement and we move closer to the rock.

  “I’m not sure how much help my bow and arrow will be since we won’t see the crabs coming, so I’ll stay closest to the rock. If you are between the monster and me that gives me some space to assist from behind.”

  “Oh, so you get the safest position?” TexBadass says sarcastically.

  “Well, it’s either that or you constantly having to heal me when I can’t get off a shot in time. You do understand the meaning of ranged damage, don’t you?”

  “Whatever,” he mumbles. “Erinocalypse, SteelFeather, Balderdash13. You three form the perimeter. Callidus, how’s your Stealth?”

  He nods. “Okay.”

  That’ll have to do. You take the lead, but stay closest to the rock. Stay as invisible as you can. I’ll stay behind the perimeter as well to keep an eye on your health bars.”

  “Does that work for everyone?” I conclude for him.

  There are general murmurs of agreement all around as the group gets in formation and clutches their weapons. I hate going into the unknown, but what choice do we have? If the corrupted code is making these changes to keep from being found, it’s working.

  I keep my back to the cliff and start moving sides along its length. Callidus on my right, TexBadass on my left. The other three forming a defensive wall around us. I peer as deeply into the overpowering fog as I can. If I can get off a shot as soon as I see a crab, I will at least be pulling some of my weight.

  I think I see a flash of movement ahead of Balderdash13, but it’s a brilliant blue so I’m not certain what I’ve seen. Two seconds later a bright blue and orangey red claw swipes out at her. She deftly dodges and hits away the attack, but the creature has advanced and grasps her leg with its other claw. SteelFeather had not exaggerated. The thing is massive. Each claw is at least two feet long and, since Balderdash13 is petite, the crab stands above her waist. It probably has fifty pounds on her.

  She doesn’t cry out for help. She merely squares her shoulders and swings at the creature again. Next to me, TexBadass starts healing her. I try to find an angle to shoot, but the hard shell offers few opportunity and I’m scared of hitting Balderdash13. With Erinocalypse offering ranged damage support with new spells, Balderdash13 is all set to take down the crab when a second one attacks SteelFeather. I feel completely useless, but the three frontline players are able to take down the creatures with minimal damage.

  [+ 25 XP]

  [+ 20 XP]

  Since I’m not landing any hits at all, the game grants me minimal XP from my party’s efforts. Frustrating, but I’ll make it up later. As the others loot the carcasses, I examine what we’re up against.

  Name: Imperial Crab

  Level: 24

  Description: These crustaceans rule the sand. As you wander into their territory they will make sure you know it.

  We continue inching our way along the rock. For the first five minutes or so I shoot a total of three arrows, making contact only once. The damage dealers fall into a rhythm, alternating between physical blows to crack the creatures’ shells, and magic casts to further destroy them. We rack up XP little by little, advancing north on the beach.

  This plan seems to be going well, but the lack of visibility unnerves me. What else is lurking out in the fog, just beyond our sight? Our only option is to stay on the defensive. For all I know, we’re walking straight through their territory and could avoid these battles by traveling through the water. But what else can we do, without an accurate map or more than five feet of visibility?

  Next to me, Callidus gasps and curses. I look at him in alarm—the only Imperial Crab near us was just killed by Balderdash13. There doesn’t seem to be anything near him, but he’s squirming and swatting at something on his neck and the back of his head.

  “Are you okay? What is it?”

  I want to help, but I can’t see anything. I take a step closer, reaching my hand out to where Callidus is pawing against his neck. Is this a hallucination? A spider web?

  “Gah!” I let out an involuntary cry of pain. From the direction of the rock face behind us I feel a deep, focused icy cold piercing on the back of my hand.

  I pull my hand back as Erinocalypse calls over her shoulder. “What happened?”

  Another Imperial Crab attacks, and Erinocalypse springs back into action. I grab Callidus’s arm and pull him closer to me, hopefully out of the reach of whatever is attacking.

  “We have to wait here,” I call to the others. “We can’t keep advancing yet. Hang on.”

  “Did you see what it was?” Callidus asks me.

  “No, did you?”

  He shakes his head. “Just cold, laser-focused pain. They hit me three times. I don’t think they’re targeting any specific way, though. Aiming for my ass cheek isn’t especially effective when my eyes are uncovered, you know?”

  I nod and look back at the rock wall without actually moving in front of it. I don’t want to move any farther until we figure out what attacked us and how.

  “How is your Stealth leveling? Can you disappear completely yet?”

  The kid nods. “Yeah, but only for a few second
s at a time.”

  “That’ll work. Try going in full Stealth in front of the rock. See if that triggers it or you can get by unscathed.”

  “Damn. Okay. Yeah. You’re right. Okay.”

  With that, he vanishes before my eyes. I notice a small movement in the sand where his steps would be, but otherwise the rogue is completely invisible to me. Nice. That skill will be useful once he’s able to do it for more than a few seconds.

  “Ow!” Callidus pops back into visibility and sprints back toward me. “Whatever that is either sensed me or shoots automatically.”

  “Damn.”

  “Yeah, and did you notice the effect? One little jab cost me like three percent health. So, just like ten hits knocks off a huge chunk. If the whole wall is peppered with this trap, I don’t know how we’ll all get through it.”

  “Damn.”

  “How’s your detective work going over there?” Erinocalypse calls over her shoulder.

  “We have determined that this trap is dangerous,” Callidus responds with mock solemnity.

  TexBadass snorts a laugh. “Helpful.”

  “We’re weighing our options,” I tell them.

  “What are our options?” Callidus asks.

  “Let’s think. We could just keep going and risk it. Hope that TexBadass can keep our health up fast enough or hope that the range of attack isn’t the full length of the cliff.”

  “That’s a lot of hoping.”

  “Yeah. I don’t really like plans that depend on that much hoping. We could also move out from the wall, hope that the icy bolts are triggered by proximity or movement and get out of that area of sensing. Of course if we do that, we’ll be out in the middle of the sand, presumably surrounded by Imperial Crabs. And we’ll probably miss the dungeon entrance that way.”

  “Which is why we’re here in the first place,” Callidus concludes.

  “Which is why we’re here in the first place,” I echo.

  He and I stare at each other, the crunch and crash of Crabs attacking around us.